1796—Nathan Peake, the captain of the frigate Unicorn, is sent into the Adriatic to rid the sea of pirates and turn Venice against Revolutionary France. But Nathan is drawn into an even more sinister web involving two of the most feared women of the age: Emma Hamilton, the courtesan, turned courtier, and the nun Caterina Caresini, uncrowned queen of Venice. As Nathan confronts the politics of “intrigue, poison and the stiletto,” he plays a deadly game with young general Napoleon Bonaparte.