Description:

One look will steal your heart, but her touch will take your soul , , , La Serenissima - a beautiful but deadly city where corrupt aristocrats rule and everything, including love, has a price. Tallow is anything but a simple candlemaker and when she has everything taken away from her - friends, family, hope - all she can do to survive is rely on the Maleovellis. Casting aside the safety of her disguise, she becomes cold-hearted Tarlo, female courtesan and the toast of those who, if they knew her secret, would destroy her. But the intrigues of the Serenissian nobility are nothing against the larger forces moving within the world. And Tallow's enemies have a hidden asset: the one thing they know she cannot possibly resist. ### Review "A sublimely realized world . . . a gutsy, engaging story."  —Anthony Eaton, author, *A New Kind of Dreaming* "Many surprises, twists, and turns to keep the reader hooked . . . Mature readers from 12 onwards will inhale this book and be clamoring for the next volume. A treat in time for the long summer holidays!"  —*Bookseller+Publisher* ### About the Author Karen Brooks is an associate professor of media studies at Southern Cross University, a columnist for the Courier-Mail, and a regular expert commentator in the media. She also writes a feature for Child magazine, and is the author of Consuming Innocence.