City of Silk

City of SilkBologna, 1575. A talented seamstress. A powerful merchant. A fierce battle of wills. Elena Morandi has gained a fragile foothold in a master tailor's workshop, despite the profession being barred to women. But then Antonio della Fontana, a powerful man from her past, crosses her path and threatens everything she has built. Fontana has every corner of the city in his pocket and Elena knows all too well of his past abuses. Driven to fight for justice,

the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy

Sister of Mine is a powerhouse debut

the two children must somehow survive

critic and writer Ruth Millington uncovers the remarkable role of muses in some of art history's most well-known and significant works

'Erling Kagge transforms and consoles us' Alain de Botton

Raymond Carver said it was possible 'to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language and endow these things - a chair

1997: Sook-Yin's daughter Lily can barely remember the mother she lost as a small child

her abilities suppressed

enterprising mind and extensive network of correspondents

And as whispers of more girls reach her ears

Much of this beautifully written and evocative book is a lamentation on the conditions of exile

expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things