The Smile (novel)

Set in Renaissance Florence, it follows Elisabetta's life up to the moment she models for da Vinci's painting, and suggests the secret behind her famous smile.

As a budding only daughter of a wealthy silk merchant in Renaissance Italy, Elisabetta finds herself on the brink of an inevitable arranged marriage, but she longs for love.

When she attends the funeral of one of Florence's most powerful men, Lorenzo de' Medici, she meets Leonardo da Vinci, who declares that one day, when she is ready, he will paint her.

Through brief encounters with Giuliano, Elisabetta falls in love; but when her mother dies and her father quickly remarries, it is arranged that she marry the new wife's brother-in-law.

Piero de Medici, the head of the family at the time of the novel, met with Charles VIII of France to negotiate for Florence without informing the signoria, or the Florentine government.