Book Description
This book is on discount promotion on Amazon for $0.99 (regularly $12.99) 9/28/2026 - 10/2/2026!
Dr. Mia Harding needs to prove the artist of an erotic Renaissance statue was a courtesan erased by history, but that requires her to discredit her colleagues and dive into the dark world of art theft.
In a chase through Venice to unearth the secret woman's identity, she risks her career and safety to solidify her rightful place in the art world, before the truth is lost forever.
More About This Book
When and Why Should Someone Read It?
Read this if you love: art history thrillers, dual-timeline historical fiction, stories about women written out of the record, Venice-set fiction, or slow-burn danger that escalates into real physical stakes. This book is for women who want more of their history reflected in our current discussions.
Themes, Ideas & Atmosphere
Thriller pacing with sensual historical drama, this book takes readers on a heart-pounding adventure that blows open the erasure and reclamation of women's history. It explores women's forbidden ambition and the systemic erasure of women in art. It includes forbidden lovers, predatory wealth, hidden identity, scandal, silencing of powerful women, and vindication.
If You Loved These, You'll Love This
Jodi Picoult's By Any Other Name, which also explores bombshell allegations of history getting it wrong and the current-day effects of erasing women's stories. Sarah Penner's The Lost Apothecary for the erased woman's narrative in history and dual-timeline adventure.
The Story Behind the Book
I was tired of uncovering stories erased by history. Women faced institutional and social barriers to art, yet they made it anyway. They faced harassment, abuse and ostracization, and frequently male artists stole their work. History erased their contributions and I wanted to unearth them. Courtesans were fascinating characters in history, capable of getting an education and becoming artists, yet they've been reduced in history to nothing more than sex workers. I wanted to tell the story of one courtesan who risked it all for her art, and a modern historian who wouldn't let the truth get buried.
The Central Question
Can a woman's existence be proven when every system built to record history was designed to erase her? Every reader has had a moment of knowing something true that no one else will validate, or watching someone's contribution get credited to somebody else. Sofia and Mia are both fighting that exact fight, four hundred years apart. How has the reader's life been affected by all the erasure that's come before us?
The Secret Courtesan, a thrilling dual timeline historical fiction by Kerry Chaput, a book, promoted on Goodkindles for .