From the bulb of a rare flower blooms ambition and scandal Rome 1635. As Flanders braces for another long year of war, a Spanish count presents the Vatican with a means of disrupting the Dutch rebels' booming economy. His plan is brilliant. They just need the right man to implement it. Enter Ludovico da Portovenere, a charismatic spice and silk merchant. Intrigued by the Vatican's proposal-and hungry for profit-Ludo sets off for Amsterdam. His voyage is, interrupted, first by a timid English priest with a message from Rome, then by a storm, then by a pirate raid. The storm brings him a quick-witted young admirer he uses as a spy. The pirate raid brings him a girl, Alina, who won't go home. Each development has significant consequences for Ludo's plans and even greater ones for the people he is involved with. Set in a world of international politics and domestic intrigue, The Chosen Man spins an engrossing tale about the Dutch financial scandal known as tulip mania-and how decisions made in high places can have terrible repercussions on innocent lives

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