These Wicked Devices

THE HOLY CITY IS NO PLACE FOR MERCY

'Matthew Plampin should rank with the best' Sunday Times

'Plampin is heartbreakingly good' The Times

'Gripping, immersive, at times very funny and beautifully written, this is historical fiction of the highest quality' Elizabeth Fremantle

Rome, 1650.

The streets are teeming as thousands of pilgrims flood in for the Holy Jubilee, but behind the gilded façade of the Vatican, power is unravelling.

Donna Olimpia Maidalchini has long kept Pope Innocent X under her thumb, but as loyalties shift, her enemies close in. And her most dangerous opponents may be those she deems too weak to matter.

Two destitute nuns arrive, fleeing the ruined city of Castro and each carrying secrets that could destroy them.

Meanwhile, the assistant to the famed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez is drawn into a perilous conspiracy – one that could bring Italy to its knees, and against which his own desperate ambitions seem to count for nothing.

As the sweltering summer heat rises, survival, not salvation, becomes the ultimate goal – and in this world of sin, saints almost never survive.

'Wickedly brilliant… a darkly fascinating, suspenseful and Machiavellian tale. So richly evoked you can almost smell the incense of Papal Rome. Highly recommended' Anna Mazzola

'Between the pages of These Wicked Devices I was transported to the streets and palaces of baroque Rome in all the sordid splendour of the Holy Jubilee. Plampin’s characters, knotty, ruthless and complicated, weave their intrigues and ambitions and carry dangerous secrets as they struggle to survive in a place where power shifts constantly. Gripping, immersive, at times very funny and beautifully written, this is historical fiction of the highest quality' Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Disobedient

'Beautifully and fluently written, it is such an unusual and interesting story – full of brilliant characters who pulse with life and the Rome of 1650 is fascinatingly evoked' Elizabeth Buchan, author of Bonjour, Sophie

'Absolutely loved These Wicked Devices. Rome in 1650 brought vividly to life, full of fascinating real historical figures, an utterly gripping plot and beautiful writing. I could almost feel the heat of the Italian sun when I was reading it. Fabulous stuff' Beth Lewis, author of The Rush

Praise for Mrs Whistler

‘Matthew Plampin is heartbreakingly good … Mrs Whistler is a beguiling glimpse of a fascinating world’ THE TIMES

‘A terrific novel … It springs off the page, bristling with life. A vivid and absorbing portrait of bohemian London and the love affair between Whistler and his long-suffering but spirited muse’ DEBORAH MOGGACH

‘A captivating tale …This novel is a delight’ THE TIMES

‘A delightful book’ LITERARY REVIEW

'Should rank with the best … his work possesses depth and vitality … vividly engaging … a novel that conjures up the Victorian art world in rich colours’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘A richly imagined historical novel, full of depth and vitality’ SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE

Matthew Plampin was born in 1975 and lives in London. He completed a PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art and now lectures on nineteenth-century art and architecture. He is the author of two previous novels, The Street Philosopher and The Devil’s Acre

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