Stravaganza: City of Secrets

Matt Wood doesn't know the ancient leather-bound book he's bought is a talisman that will allow him to stravagate - to travel in time between this world and sixteenth century Italy.

But disorientated, waking in the University of Padavia Scriptorium, he's thrust into an unfamiliar, terrifying web of intrigues.

He and fellow stravagantes, Luciano and Arianna, must outwit the ruthlessly ambitious di Chimci family who seek revenge on Luciano - and are close to discovering a route into the present. Confrontation is inevitable...

The spatial, temporal and emotional geography of Stravaganza's world are tantalisingly enlarged and deepened in this fourth volume.

Hoffman skilfully juggles numerous narrative strands in a cracking plot, with tension artfully woven with historical detail. Absorbing - and very exciting!