Not since Anna Diamant's The Red Tent or Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history. A "lavishly detailed" (Elle Canada) debut that masterfully captures sixteenth-century Venice against a dramatic and poetic tale of suspense.

Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers using her secret "birthing spoons." When a count implores her to attend his...

At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Seeping refuse on the streets renders the pavement slick and the walking treacherous. It was on such a night that the men came for Hannah.

In the opulent palace of the feared and revered Murat III, Hannah Levi, midwife to the Sultan's vast harem, is forced to ensure heirs for the kingdom. If she fails, the entire Ottoman Empire will collapse, but the woman who is chosen to be the Sultan's mistress is not all she seems. And when a mysterious woman turns up on her doorstep, claiming to be her late brother's bride, Hannah must find the courage and wit to defend herself - both against the threat of the palace and the widow-imposter - or lose everything she has ever loved.