A delightful, swashbuckling adventure of lust, learning, and love. Escaping the religious hysteria of Renaissance Florence, young Antonio leaves his family and fate behind to find a better life. Misfortune, betrayals, friendships, and favors toss him around the Mediterranean as he makes his way as a pirate, an itinerant actor, and a fugitive before becoming a notable merchant of Venice.

Inspired by Shakespeare, author Gil Cole reimagines Antonio as someone different of his time—a man who openly desires the love of another man. Written with a lusty yet literate flair that evokes the true style and language of the Elizabethan period, this epic, operatic page-turner rolls out a grand Mediterranean pageant where manly virtues—love, loyalty, honor, and physical courage—are put to the ultimate test. As Antonio moves from town to town, lover to lover, and peril to peril, he remains fiercely faithful to himself and his desires, delivering a thrilling, imaginative, and deeply romantic homage to the Bard with a hard-won ending.