{ "item_title" : "The Ruby Ring", "item_author" : [" Diane Haeger "], "item_description" : "From critically acclaimed historical novelist Diane Haeger comes The Ruby Ring, an unforgettable story of love, loss, and immortal genius . . . Rome, 1520. The Eternal City is in mourning. Raphael Sanzio, beloved painter and national hero, has died suddenly at the height of his fame. His body lies in state at the splendid marble Pantheon. At the nearby convent of Sant'Apollonia, a young woman comes to the Mother Superior, seeking refuge. She is Margherita Luti, a baker's daughter from a humble neighborhood on the Tiber, now an outcast from Roman society, persecuted by powerful enemies within the Vatican. Margherita was Raphael's beloved and appeared as the Madonna in many of his paintings. Theirs was a love for the ages. But now that Raphael is gone, the convent is her only hope of finding an honest and peaceful life. The Mother Superior agrees to admit Margherita to their order. But first, she must give up the ruby ring she wears on her left hand, the ring she had worn in Raphael's scandalous nude engagement portrait. The ring has a storied past, and it must be returned to the Church or Margherita will be cast out into the streets. Behind the quiet walls of the convent, Margherita makes her decision . . . and remembers her life with Raphael--and the love and torment--embodied in that one precious jewel. In The Ruby Ring, Diane Haeger brings to life a love affair so passionate that it remains undimmed by time. Set in the sumptuous world of the Italian Renaissance, it's the story of the clergymen, artists, rakes, and noblemen who made Raphael and Margherita's world the most dynamic and decadent era in European history.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers4.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/40/005/173/1400051738_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "18.00", "online_price" : "18.00", "our_price" : "18.00", "club_price" : "18.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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Ring around the Renaissance

A love for the ages—its secret hidden beneath a carefully applied mask of paint. Who covered up the ruby ring on the young woman's finger in the Raphael painting? Why place such a seemingly deliberate deception in a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance? Diane Haeger's The Ruby Ring posits an explanation amid the intrigues swirling around the Vatican in the early 1500s. The maestro, Raphael, seeks the perfect model for a papal commission to paint the Madonna. He finally discovers the ideal woman in the baker's daughter, Margherita Luri. Margherita proves more than mere model as the two begin a love affair that scandalizes Roman society and makes a powerful enemy of Cardinal Bibbiena. Set against the vivid descriptive detail of Rome and the Trastavere, Haeger's tale of how the ring came to be obscured in the Raphael masterpiece resonates with the grandeur and intimacy of epic love stories. The included reader's guide gives fodder for discussion, but this romance is first to be savored as the wonderful historical tale that it is.

Sandy Huseby writes from Fargo, North Dakota.