Silk Merchant’s Daughters Books In Order
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Bianca | (2012) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Francesca | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Lucianna | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Serena | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Silk Merchant’s Daughters series written by Beatrice Small is composed of books that revolve around romance and family issues .They focus on the romantic journeys of Giovanni’s children, a business man who lives in Italy. One of the earlier books of this sequel is the Bianca which addresses a tale about a pretty lady, Bianca Maria Rosa who is the heroine of the tale. She is popularly known in the Florentine community which she comes from and many people anticipate that she will get a perfect husband. However, things do not turn as expected due to Bianca’s brother involvement in an awful road accident which results into Bianca being the one to pay for the consequences. He tries to conceal his connection to the incident and a result he messes up by putting his family into danger of being blackmailed by Sebastiano Rovere. Sebastiano finds an opportunity of forcefully marrying Bianca by requesting Giovanni to give him his daughter so that he keeps silent. Bianca’s dad has no alternative other than meeting Sebastiano’s demands. Moreover, he would not want his family’s reputation and wealth to be in jeopardy. Even though Bianca is afraid of Sebastiano, she has no option other than to obey her dad’s commands thus she takes the marriage vows.
Meanwhile she suffers under the hands of Sebastiano who is excessively brutal. He denies her permission to visit her family which makes her lose ties with her household. She takes advantage of Sebastiano’s lust on her and charms him until he approves of her visit to her family. Bianca sorrowfully informs her mother, Orianna about her suffering and as result they plot on how she will hide from her husband. Bianca goes to harbor at the convent where she is sure that her husband will not come for her since it will be regarded as defilement to the church. Afterwards she proceeds to stay in a country house along the seashore where she comes across a man, Amir whom they fall in love with one another. She swears not to sleep with him since she has not yet cancelled her previous marriage vows.
Fortunately or unfortunately, two years later Sebastiano is killed and when Bianca confirms the report, she fully accepts Amir as her lover since the previous marriage vows have rescinded as a result of her husband’s demise. However, the Florentine society does not tolerate intermarriage with unbelievers. Amir comes from the family of Mehmet which does not believe in religion. On the other hand, Bianca is determined to live her life according to what she sees fit and not by how the community around her expects. She has found the man of her dreams and she will not let her mother’s preference of marrying wealthy men prevent her from being happy with the man she loves. The book portrays the theme of cultural difference whereby both Bianca and Amir overcome their diverse backgrounds by choosing to stand and live for one another. Initially, the story starts with some misfortunes but as it terminates the reader is captivated by the romance.
Another remarkable book from The Silk Merchant’s Daughters series is The Francesca which addresses about a beautiful bride by the name Francesca who is actually the main character of the story. Francesca has turned fifteen, an age that is considered appropriate for marriage in her society. Apart from that, the bride does not have a chance to choose for herself the right suitor but instead she is compelled to marry a man not of her choice. Francesca is summoned by the Duke of Terrono, Boscoso to visit his state so that she can meet his son, Rafaello but she declines. However, her dad, a well known wealthy mercantile supports that idea and so she has no otherwise apart from travelling to Terrono. Francesca’s mom also advocates for that proposal since the other daughters would find even better suitors when Francesca becomes popular because of being married to a duke. Apart from Francesca there are other two girls that have been summoned who include Louisa Maria whose dad is the Duke of Genoa and Aceline Mary whose father is known as the Comtu du Barry. Of all three ladies, Rafaello likes Francesca who in turn does not have any feelings for him. He is attracted to her caring nature and the fact that she does not hide anything from him.
Rafaello is aware that Louise is in love with his closest comrade and therefore he cannot marry her. He also does not like Aceline even though she is confident that he will choose her since she is the prettiest. Besides he knows that she is after their family’s wealth and also he dislikes her attitude towards other servants. Soon Francesca discovers that Rafaello has declared her as her bride of which her parents have all agreed. This does not please her and she escapes back to their home with the help of her servants. On the way home, she encounters terrifying wolfs and is forced to seek refuge at a certain hostelry and in return she works as servant. With time she develops a liking for the new job and additionally, she also has a liking for one of the woodsmen, Carlo. Carlo attempts to lure her to sleep together but she declines and affirms that she can only break her virginity when married.
As the spring season begins, she decides to head back to their palace. The following day she is surprised to be met by a troop who forcefully takes her back to the palace where she is dressed up for the wedding accession. Rafaello was aware of her whereabouts during the winter spell and wanted to give her time to think over her life. The wedding takes place and she takes her marriage vows even though she still has affection for Carlo. Soon they get along with one another and before long they are crowned as the new Duke and Duchess. On the other hand, Aceline is jealous because she was not chosen and therefore comes up with an allegation that her child’s father is actually Rafaello.
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