From the author of To Dance with Kings, here is a lush new novel of romance and adventure set against the background of dazzling pageantry and tarnished splendor that was eighteenth-century Venice. Although the glorious Venetian City State is still an exciting and glamorous center for arts and culture, it is by this time past its prime. And it is not only decadent but dangerous. Violence hides behind the fanciful masks that Venetians wear to disguise their identity: women are in thrall to their husbands...and life is cheap in "the brothel of Europe." In the heart of this rich and rolling city stands the Ospedale della Pieta, a renowned music conservatory for orphaned girls. And within its cloistered walls three children meet and become lifelong friends. Adrianna, the oldest, who gives up a glamorous operatic career to marry a Venetian maskmaker, becomes the solid base of their triangle. Elena, bright, blond, and vivacious, is betrothed to one of the rich and powerful Celano family, while the titian-haired, golden-voiced Marietta weds a Torrisi, sworn enemy of the Celanos. As a result, she and Elena are forbidden to see or speak to each other. Yet, with Adrianna acting as go-between, their friendship endures. Through illicit births, violent deaths, personal vendettas, and political plots, the "Pieta girls" support one another and even, literally, save one another's lives. Filled with all the passion and richness of detail that have made Rosalind Lake's novels so popular, The Venetian Mask will sweep its readers into another time and place.