The Glassmaker's Oath of Murano
A Novel of Renaissance Venice

About this book:

Venice, 1486. On the furnace islands of Murano, the secret of *cristallo*—glass as clear as mountain spring water—is worth more than gold, and keeping it is a matter of life and death. Seventeen-year-old Lorenzo has spent years mastering the rhythm of the blowpipe, the kiss of molten silica, the brutal discipline of the kiln. But when his master entrusts him with a forbidden formula and the Council of Ten decrees that any glassmaker who sells the secret will be hunted across Europe, Lorenzo finds himself at the center of a war waged with fire, espionage, and assassins in the fog.

From the reeking alkali vats of the Levant to the gilded chambers of foreign princes, *The Glassmaker's Oath of Murano* immerses you in a world where a single degree of heat separates perfection from ruin, and where the line between artisan and traitor is drawn in molten glass. Rich with the textures of Renaissance craft—the scent of woodsmoke and sulfur, the weight of the pontello, the hiss of steam as damp wood shapes liquid light—this is historical fiction forged in the furnace itself: precise, luminous, and utterly gripping.

Lorenzo must navigate a labyrinth of guild spies, merchant conspirators, and the long reach of the Inquisition, all while guarding a secret that could shatter the Republic's monopoly—or buy his freedom. But in a city built on water and watched by the Lion of Saint Mark, some truths are too dangerous to hold, and the clearest glass reflects the darkest shadows.