2.5 starsThe book starts when a nun dies and leaves instructions not to touch her body. The sisters ignores them and they discover that she had a shocking tattoo on her body. Then book gies back in time when Alessandra was young girl in Florence. She loves to paint and when her family hires a young painter she becomes fascinating by him. But she gets to be married to an older man who isn't all that he seems to be and learns something involving his brother.I have to say that I wanted to like this more than I did. I don't know much about Italy and I wish I'd knew more about the things that happened in the book. I didn't feel connected to the characters and the only one that I wanted to read about was the painter, who isn't mentioned by name. I did some skipping in the beginning but it did get better towards the end.