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Product Description
Starting with the premise of four novels based on the phases of alchemy and the four primal elements, Tanith Lee created an evocative fantastical alternate to the historical Italy in her Secret Books of Venus series. The fist volume, Faces Under Water, was set against a backdrop of a macabre Venietian carnival. In Saint Fire, the chilling second volume in the series, Volpa is a strangely beautiful servant girl who glows with an inhuman inner fire. When her master, an abusive wood seller, is mysteriously incinerated, Volpa begins to discover her power of fire. Church leaders, who see her as a mighty weapon in their holy wars, notice her gift, and unable to determine whether her powers are heavenly or demonic, are nonetheless determined to have Volpa on their side. This gripping fantasy of a mysteriously gifted Joan of Arc figure is stunning from beginning to end.
Amazon.com Review
Tanith Lee, winner of the August Derleth Award and several World Fantasy Awards, has created a fascinating alternate Venice in her Secret Books of Venus, a proposed four-novel series based on ancient concepts surprisingly scarce in fantasy: alchemy and the four elements. Available now are Book I, Faces Under Water, and Book II, Saint Fire; they can be enjoyed out of order, for they have self-contained plots and no shared characters. Inspired by the Joan of Arc legend, Saint Fire explores the mysteries of faith, love, power, and the miraculous. Dark, ironic, insightful, and elegantly written, Saint Fire is classic Tanith Lee.
Volpa is just another slave, until her pale beauty and fiery hair attract the lustful attention of a brutal owner. A mysterious conflagration leaves her free, unharmed, without memory--and in the power of the Church, whose ambitious leaders have conflicting plans for her. Some believe she is touched by the Divine; others see her fire-power as Satanic and will stop at nothing to destroy her. --Cynthia Ward
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