The Burning of the Rose — Ruth Nichols

As the Hundred Years' War draws to a close, beautiful Claire Tarleton--musician, artists' model, and scholar--must flee with her family to her mother's native Normandy where she confronts her past and the political turbulence of her times.


In the Florence of the Medicis and the Renaissance painters, a young woman grows in promise-and in beauty. Claire Tarleton-musician and artists' model-- blossoms under the tutelage of her foster-parents, Walter and Elisabeth, who have cared for their foster daughter since her natural parents died in the London plague that almost claimed a two-year-old Claire as well.

Fear of a Turkish invasion prompts Walter, Elisabeth and Claire to flee Italy for a small village on the Normandy coast. There, in a world buffeted by the forces of England and France, Claire encounters questions about her parents's past and her own future. There, too, she attracts the attention of the handsome Linacre brothers, Thomas and Richard, both of whom set out to woo her.