The Sixteen Pleasures, Paperback

Margot Harrington, an American volunteer in Florence, is an expert at book conservancy. While struggling to save a waterlogged convent library, she comes across a fabulous volume of sixteen erotic drawings by Giulio Romano, accompanying sixteen steamy sonnets by Pietro Aretino. When first published over four centuries ago, the Vatican ordered all copies destroyed. This one--now unique--volume has survived.

The abbess prevails upon Margot to save the order's finances by selling the magnificently illustrated erotica discreetly--meaning without the bishop's knowledge.

Margot's other clandestine project is a middle-aged Italian who is boldly attempting radical measures to save endangered frescoes. She is 29 and available; he, older and married. He shares her sense of mission and soon her bed in this daring story of spiritual longing and earthly desire.

About the Author:

Robert Hellenga was educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton University. His novels include The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, The Italian Lover, and The Confessions of Frances Godwin. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two Illinois Arts Council grants, and a PEN Fiction Award.