The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga
Art, poetry, and desire collide in a sensual, "elegantly moving" (The New Yorker) literary romance set in the cobbled streets and painted halls of Florence, Italy.Margot Harrington, an American volunteer in Florence, is an expert at book conservancy. While struggling to save a waterlogged convent library, she comes across a fabulous volume of sixteen erotic drawings by Giulio Romano, accompanying sixteen steamy sonnets by Pietro Aretino. When first published over four centuries ago, the Vatican ordered all copies destroyed. This one-now unique-volume has survived.
The abbess prevails upon Margot to save the order's finances by selling the magnificently illustrated erotica discreetly-meaning without the bishop's knowledge.
Margot's other clandestine project is a middle-aged Italian who is boldly attempting radical measures to save endangered frescoes. She is 29 and available; he, older and married. He shares her sense of mission and soon her bed in this daring story of spiritual longing and earthly desire.
Robert Hellenga attended the University of Michigan and Princeton University for his education. He is the author of the novels Snakewoman of Little Egypt, The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Easy, and The Italian Lover, and is a professor at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He is a resident of Galesburg, Illinois.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781616955809 |
| ISBN 10 | 1616955805 |
| Title | The Sixteen Pleasures |
| Author | Robert Hellenga |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Soho Press Inc |
| Year published | 2015-02-03 |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |