Maddalena by Eva Jana Siroka

In the cradle of art and faith, a compelling drama of art and sacrifice. The story of Titian’s Penitent Magdalen as never told before.

The place: Rome. The time: 1560s.

In the midst of the Vatican’s struggle for power—weakened by corruption not unlike the scandals of today—a powerful prelate is unable to conquer his passion for the beautiful daughter of a Jewish apothecary. So begins the epic love story of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese and Rebecca, a love that eventually costs the cardinal the papacy.
 
Art historian Eva Siroka paints a richly sensuous canvas of sixteenth-century Rome in which art, music, science, and religion come vividly alive in a story of power, passion, betrayal, and greed.

Based on meticulous historical research, Maddalena invites the reader to see Michelangelo’s frescoes, hear Palestrina's music, and feel the religious fervor of Rome’s 1575 Jubilee year.

Illustrated with the plates of twenty-three stunning, original watercolors by the author (see samples), Maddalena engagingly immerses us in the heroine’s conversion to Christianity and dedication to Farnese, who is unable—unwilling—to spare his love from being burned at the stake during the horrifying excesses of the Inquisition.

Ms. Siroka has written a compelling and heartfelt novel that delves into the passions and follies of prelates and paupers alike, in the most exciting city in the world during one of its most tumultuous times.