I, Belladonna, An Elite Courtesan Of Venice

Venice, March 19, 1612

Each day, as soon as the dawn reaches out its red orange tendrils across the lagoon and the first shimmers of sunlight reach my windows, I think of Isaak. He is out there, beyond the lagoon, perhaps even beyond the Mediterranean, his gaze on the same horizon. Will he ever return to Venice, to me? Could he ever relinquish his mission to free the slaves chained below decks of the ships he captures? It does not seem to be in his nature to settle down in one place. One day, if he is not captured or killed by his enemies, I still cannot imagine he would stay in Venice, where he would have to renounce the religion of his birth, or resign himself to a life in the Ghetto.

I often ask myself, in a moment of candor, if he did return, would I run to join him on a voyage to a new life in a new world? Give up all I’ve earned, all I have built, to put myself and my life in his arms? No, not I, not Belladonna.

I have built a very comfortable life over the course of the ten years since Isaak freed me from a Turkish slave ship. I am no longer Raquel, a vulnerable orphan, but Belladonna, a woman with a grand palazzo, whose salon hosts the leading lights of Europe. In taking the name “Belladonna”, another name for deadly nightshade, I warn any man who seeks to control me that I can be deadly in the defense of my liberty.

Alas, Venice is the capital of poison, so as I prepare for tonight’s guests, I must employ scores of tasters so that no one keels over into his plate at my salon. The men who will attend tonight I might consider my allies; however, I do not fool myself that former lovers who have made me rich will remain my champions forever. Power is a fickle mistress, and they like I, must bend to those who hold sway—for the moment.

The mirrored walls of my palazzo reflect the image I have worked so hard to perfect. My maid has arranged my honey-colored hair high above a braided band studded with colored jewels. My collar stands high, stiff and white as only one of the highest quality and tended with the greatest care. Although my bodice plunges low, it is intersected by another jewel of impressive size and in a golden setting. My pride is the ropes of pearls that cascade from around my neck to the middle of the finely worked silken bodice. Beneath the folds of the rich-hued bronze satin of my skirts is a pocket which conceals a treasured weapon, a dagger, sheathed but sharp-tipped and with a secret release of poison.

I was taken by surprise when Diana, Isaak’s widowed sister appeared at my salon, in the company of the artist. Now, not only at dawn do I think of Isaak, but at night, in my salon, where the face of his sister has come to haunt me. Though I may have a soft spot for Isaak’s sibling, I cannot stake my position on becoming her champion. She is masquerading as a ward of a visiting English lord, and in so doing, has inadvertently placed herself in the midst of the plots of the Council of Ten, the powerful men who control Venice.

From tatters to pearls I have risen, and I am determined to survive the intrigues of the Council of Ten, which seem to swirl through the city like a dangerous fog.

The Gallery of Beauties, A Venice Beauties Mystery #1
Genre: Historical
Release: June 2022
Purchase Link

Venice, 1612. Two very different women, a notorious courtesan and a Talmudic scholar, are brought together by an artist when they pose for a “Gallery of Beauties,” forming a relationship neither of them anticipated.

Conflicted about her past, Belladonna finds herself drawn to Diana, the rabbi’s widowed daughter, and has ambitions for her future, but only if Diana will discard her origins and her traditions. While Diana is torn by indecision, Belladonna feels threatened, as one by one, the subjects of the portraits are poisoned. The two women must rely on their wits and each other to avoid becoming the next victims, as they confront the powerful men who seek to control them and Venice.

Meet the author
Nina Wachsman graduated from Parsons School of Design where she studied illustration with Maurice Sendak. After a career as a former ad agency creative director, she now runs a digital marketing company. Her most recent mystery story appears in the anthology, Justice for All, Murder NY Style 5, and she has two stories which will appear in upcoming horror anthologies and mystery magazines. The Gallery of Beauties, her debut novel of historical suspense, has just been published by Level Best Books and is available on Amazon as an e-book and paperback. Visit her website at venicebeauties.com.

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