Dear —
It’s the year 1441. In a grand Venetian palazzo, hidden on a waterway far from the well-travelled Grand Canal, lives the magically beautiful, pale and hypnotic teenager Donatella Grimani, who has just been orphaned.
Besides her sadness and bewitching beauty—astonishing bright blue eyes, luminous white skin, masses of white-gold ringlets, the most beautiful woman people have ever seen—Donatella also has magical powers and heightened physical responses.
Her unusual sensuality and appetite for sexuality has put her on the radar of the eerily powerful, slightly sinister Count St. Germain who, upon hearing of Donatella’s orphaned state, comes to the Grimani Palace to seek control of both Donatella’s and the House of Grimani’s destiny.
Venice will never be the same. What St. Germain assembles is a cast of the most beautiful courtesans and a world of pleasure, magic, and luxury, where soldiers, sailors, merchants, wealthy pleasure seekers, philandering husbands, orphans, musicians, freaks, and desperate and dangerous characters, all come together for a taste of the good life.
Unfortunately, beyond the glamorous facade, decidedly sinister things are happening in which the courtesans, and others, are used and abused. Count St. Germain has an ulterior motive for creating the decadent House of Grimani.
INSIDE DONATELLA (155,490 words) follows Donatella on her journey, both in and out of the bedroom, as she seeks to uncover just what Count St. Germain is up to and how to rescue her family home. Along the way she falls in love with two very different men and becomes a mother, but her quest to be truly loved seems impossible given her success as a legendary courtesan.
I have an MFA in Creative Writing from Temple University.
Thank you for your time and attention. Please let me know if you are interested.