I, Mona Lisa

You've seen my smile, now hear my voice. Welcome to the dazzling world of Leonardo da Vinci's studio. It's bursting with genius imagination, hard graft, towering commissions and needling patrons, as well as discontented muses, friends (such as the amiable Raphael) and rivals (like the aggressively brilliant Michelangelo). Over five hundred tumultuous years, amid a whirlwind of politics, money, intrigue and power, the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is sought after and stolen. Except for a chosen few who can hear her voice, she keeps everything close to her chest. If you listen closely enough, you can hear what the most famous painting in the world has to say about the lost and forgotten women in the history of art and of the world. I, Mona Lisa is a deliciously vivid, compulsive and illuminating story from the bestselling author Natasha Solomons. _____________________ 'A deeply touching and blissfully romantic elegy for a lost world' The Times on Mr Rosenblum's List 'Utterly charming and very funny' PAUL TORDAY, author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, on Mr Rosenblum's List