"Sensuous and provocative as well as mysterious, Blume's interpretation of master painter Sandro Botticelli is at once a florid love story and a chilling political drama."--Publisher's Weekly.Botticelli's Muse is an historical novel about a love quadrangle: Botticelli's troubled life as he is forced to choose among his three loves: art, romance, and prestige.In 1477, Botticelli is suddenly fired by his prestigious patron and friend Lorenzo de' Medici. In the villa of his irritating new patron, the artist's creative well runs dry--until the day he sees Floriana, a Jewish weaver imprisoned in his sister's convent. But events threaten to keep his unlikely muse out of reach. So begins a tale of one of the art world's most beloved paintings, La Primavera, as Sandro, a confirmed bachelor, and Floriana, a headstrong artist in her own right, enter into a turbulent relationship.Book One: BOTTICELLI'S MUSE