Dan Brown Tahiti in 1993, Brown read Sidney Sheldon's novel "The Doomsday Conspiracy", and was inspired to become a writer of thrillers. He started work on "Digital Fortress", setting much of it in Seville, where he had studied in 1985. He also co-wrote a humor book with his wife, "187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman", under the pseudonym "Danielle Brown". The book's author profile reads, "Danielle Brown currently lives in New England: teaching school, writing books, and avoiding men." The copyright is attributed to Brown. In 1996 Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. "Digital
The Birth of Venus (novel) The Birth of Venus (novel) The Birth of Venus: A Novel is a 2003 novel by Sarah Dunant, a bestselling British author. The story is set in the late 15th century in Florence, Italy. It was first published in London by Little, Brown in 2003 with the title The Birth of Venus: love and death in Florence. A young Florentine girl, Alessandra Cecchi, is drawn to a young painter commissioned to paint the family's chapel walls. The painter is brought to her home by her father, a rich textile merchant whose business would be negatively affected by the rise of