The Medici Seal

An absorbing historical novel which results from Breslin's fascination with Leonardo da Vinci, and benefits from her painstaking research into his life and career in Renaissance Italy.

Matteo the gypsy boy is rescued by Leonardo from drowning and becomes his apprentice both in the studio and in his scientific investigations. His is a journey to assuage a terrible guilt for past events, to gain self-knowledge and find the truth about his family.

In the course of this book, readers encounter the violence and corruption of the Borgias and the Medicis, and learn much about the development of medical expertise. Definitely not The Da Vinci Code for children, but a carefully reasoned and historically informed novel about growing up and making choices.