Junior/Intermediate (Gr. 8-10) "Flora labors undercover at a goldsmith's shop in Renaissance Florence. If her identity as a member of the Pazzi family were to be discovered, she and her protectors would face brutal retribution from the Medicis, cruel autocrats of the... city-state. Hadn't Flora already witnessed the gruesome slaughter of most of her family when her father, leader of the Pazzi clan, challenged the Medicis in an attempted revolution? Beaufrand spares no details about greed-fueled violence in... historical novel, in which the plucky teen, guided by advice from her... grandmother and the friendship of her soul mate, Emilio, escapes the fray as best she can while protecting surviving siblings. Along with the... dramatic... escapes and perilous politics, Beaufrand interweaves rich details of Renaissance culture, especially through Flora's interactions with artist Sandro Botticelli (from whose real painting the novel takes its name)." - Booklist, Jan 1 & 15/08.