Pursuing a Masterpiece - Sandra Vasoli

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Résumé :
ZARA ROSSI quietly closes the door behind her and tiptoes into the Ancient Manuscripts Room in the Papal Archives in Rome. The young American Ph.D. candidate seeks information for her dissertation and surveys the scene, yearning to join the world's elite scholars. Disheartened after a seemingly unsuccessful day hunting for little-known information about Henry VIII's abdication from the Roman Church, she prepares to depart. But in the final moments before closing, Zara stumbles upon a letter, hidden for centuries. A desperate warning, scrawled upon crumbling parchment, informs Pope Clement VII of imminent disaster and reveals a conspiracy depicted by a stunning portrait: one that alters history. Hoping to prove herself worthy of respect and love, Zara searches for the masterpiece, and begins to amass clues which reveal the painting's extraordinary tale... In this gripping and beautifully complex novel, Sandra Vasoli invites us to travel across both time and space in pursuit of the discovery of a lifetime: a long-lost piece of artwork by Hans Holbein the Younger relating to the seismic and scandalous relationship between King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn. In doing so, Vasoli has crafted a thrilling, emotional masterpiece; a thick and sublimely descriptive journey which not only leads to the recovery of a lost provenance trail, but which also leads to spiritual enrichment and self-discovery. Vasoli's characters are rich, relatable, and messy, and at its heart, this is an artful account of the triumphs courage, of friendship, and of growth. A sensation.-Dr. Owen Emmerson, author of The Boleyns of Hever Castle

Biographie:
Sandra Vasoli grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. As a child, she developed an abiding interest in objects and stories from a long-ago era: historic houses, antiques, period clothes, and tales from the past. A passionate reader and enthusiastic writer, she also spent her formative years caring for dogs and riding horses; the love of animals factors large in her writing. She earned degrees in biology and English from Villanova University, and then pursued graduate work in organizational development during her long career in human resources. As a human resources officer for several Fortune 500 global companies, she honed her ability to observe and read the behaviors of people, which contributes to her poignant character development. After leaving the corporate world, Vasoli wrote and published her debut novel, Struck With the Dart of Love: Je Anne Boleyn. Uniquely positioned as a Anne Boleyn's memoir, it is the story of the tumultuous relationship between Boleyn and Henry VIII of England. With a deep appreciation for meticulous research, Vasoli was permitted rare access to the Papal Library at the Vatican, to read and study the original love letters penned in the 16th century by Henry VIII to his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She has also done extensive research in the British Library, viewing the beautiful Book of Hours in which Henry and Anne both inscribed lovers' messages to each other, and documents attributed to a mysterious letter purportedly written by Boleyn while she was imprisoned in the Tower before her execution. The result of that research has been published in Anne Boleyn's Letter from the Tower - A New Assessment. The second novel in the two-part series is available now. Entitled Truth Endures: Je Anne Boleyn it is available on e-reader and in paperback. Sandra Vasoli lives in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania.

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