{"product_id":"9780008163686","title":"These Wicked Devices","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Matthew Plampin\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eModern \u0026amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 7 May 2026 by HarperCollins Publishers (The Borough Press) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003ch4\u003ePaperback | 384 pages\u003cbr\u003e129 x 198 x 26mm | 256g\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTHE HOLY CITY IS NO PLACE FOR MERCY\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e 'Matthew Plampin should rank with the best' Sunday Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  'Plampin is heartbreakingly good' The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  'Gripping, immersive, at times very funny and beautifully written, this is historical fiction of the highest quality' Elizabeth Fremantle\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  Rome, 1650.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe streets are teeming as thousands of pilgrims flood in for the Holy Jubilee, but behind the gilded façade of the Vatican, power is unravelling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Donna Olimpia Maidalchini has long kept Pope Innocent X under her thumb, but as loyalties shift, her enemies close in. And her most dangerous opponents may be those she deems too weak to matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Two destitute nuns arrive, fleeing the ruined city of Castro and each carrying secrets that could destroy them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Meanwhile, the assistant to the famed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez is drawn into a perilous conspiracy – one that could bring Italy to its knees, and against which his own desperate ambitions seem to count for nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As the sweltering summer heat rises, survival, not salvation, becomes the ultimate goal – and in this world of sin, saints almost never survive.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Matthew Plampin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64839577272669,"sku":"9780008163686","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1074\/9358\/9341\/files\/9780008163686.jpg?v=1780059227","url":"https:\/\/adventureintobooks.co.uk\/products\/9780008163686","provider":"Adventure Into Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}