Book Two
Finding the Weight of Blood
The separated sons of Mustapha move toward Florence and the Vatican in Rome, where the family story enters a new world of distance and consequence.
Explore Book Two ↗Historical Fiction
Books Set in Italy: Historical Fiction to Begin With
For readers drawn to Florence, Rome, and the human drama of the Renaissance, the Love & Venom trilogy follows one family across generations and into Italy, where love, faith, art, and consequence continue to shape every choice.
Available in Kindle Unlimited, as eBooks or paperbacks, and as audiobooks on Google Play.
A Journey Into Italy
From one family story to Florence and Rome.
Some historical novels use Italy as scenery. The most memorable let its questions press in on the people who live there: what loyalty costs, what faith asks, what art can preserve, and what a family owes the past it cannot escape. The Italian chapters of Love & Venom are built around those pressures.
After the opening story in Constantinople, Finding the Weight of Blood follows separated sons toward Florence and the Vatican in Rome. Finding the Venom To End continues with adult brothers Enzo and Father Andrew as they move through the power, art, faith, and struggle of Renaissance Italy. Together, the books offer a long view of one family, with Italy becoming a place where earlier choices continue to matter.
For Readers Who Want More Than a Backdrop
Italy is part of the pressure, not just the picture.
Florence and Rome carry a particular promise for historical-fiction readers. They suggest beauty, ambition, devotion, family names, public authority, and private lives lived under watchful eyes. Those elements are most compelling when they are not simply arranged around a plot, but felt through characters who have something real to lose.
Love & Venom approaches Renaissance Italy through relationships. The wider world matters because it changes what the characters can say, choose, protect, and forgive. Art, faith, and power are not decorations around the story. They are part of the conditions the family must live within as old wounds and new responsibilities reach into the next generation.
For readers deciding what kind of Italian historical fiction they want, this is a story-led choice. It offers Florence and Rome as living settings, while keeping the focus on the people moving through them. You do not need a background in Renaissance history to follow the emotional stakes. The trilogy gives the period texture, then lets character and consequence do the work.
That makes the trilogy a natural choice for readers who enjoy a vivid historical setting without wanting history held at arm’s length. The places are richly imagined, while the heart of the reading experience stays close to people, loyalties, and the consequences that follow them.
A Good Match For
Readers who want a family saga with an Italian horizon.
This trilogy may be a good fit when you are looking for historical fiction that can travel across more than one period and place without losing its emotional center. The story does not begin in Renaissance Italy, but that is part of its appeal. By the time the family reaches Florence and Rome, the reader has a fuller sense of what has been carried forward.
It is also for readers drawn to stories where history affects ordinary loyalties as much as public events. Love, separation, belief, inheritance, and duty shape the characters’ choices. The Italian setting gives those ideas a new intensity, especially as the trilogy moves into a world of art, religious power, and complicated family ties.
Readers who like to settle into a series will find a clear path here. The first book introduces the beginning of the family story in Constantinople. The second turns toward Florence and Rome. The final novel stays with the next generation in Renaissance Italy. Each step opens the world a little further while keeping the central questions personal.
This is not a guidebook version of Italy and it does not require the reader to arrive with specialist knowledge. The pleasure is in entering a historical world through people who care deeply, make difficult choices, and live with what those choices leave behind. Curiosity is enough to begin. The cities, relationships, and larger journey unfold from there.
The Italian Chapters
Two books that carry the story deeper into the Renaissance.
Book Three
Finding the Venom To End
Adult brothers Enzo and Father Andrew face power, art, faith, and struggle in Renaissance Italy as the trilogy reaches its final movement.
Explore Book Three ↗Where to Start
Begin at the beginning, then let the story travel.
A reader looking specifically for books set in Italy can begin with the second novel, but the richer path is to start with Finding Love In Constantinople. It introduces Mustapha, Esme, and the choices that send their family story forward. When the later novels arrive in Florence and Rome, the shift in place feels connected to a history the reader already knows.
Starting with Book One does not mean waiting a long time for Italy to matter. It means the Italian chapters arrive with more at stake. The people who enter Florence and Rome are not strangers placed into an attractive setting. Their past is already moving with them, and the new world changes what becomes possible next.
Choose the format that suits your reading life, then take the trilogy at your own pace. Kindle Unlimited, eBook, paperback, and audiobook editions give readers several ways to enter the story. Whether you read over a quiet weekend or listen while traveling, the natural first step is the same: begin with the opening novel and follow the family onward.
Continue the Journey
Explore the trilogy, then follow Daisy’s travels beyond the page.
The Love & Venom trilogy moves from the Ottoman world into Renaissance Italy, but Daisy O. Harrison’s writing is shaped by a wider habit of paying attention to place. Her travel through Turkey inspired the opening setting, while her interest in the Renaissance helped carry the later books toward Florence and Rome.
For readers who enjoy seeing where a story’s sense of place begins, Daisy’s travel writing offers another way to explore. Her Turkey guide shares practical advice for curious travelers, and her author story gives more context for the journeys, paintings, and historical questions that continue to inspire her work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Before you begin
Are these books set in Italy?
The Love & Venom trilogy begins in Constantinople, then carries its family story into Renaissance Italy. The second book moves toward Florence and the Vatican in Rome, while the final book follows adult brothers through the art, faith, power, and struggle of Renaissance Italy.
Where should I start with the trilogy?
Start with Finding Love In Constantinople. It introduces the people and choices that shape the later books, so the Italian setting has more emotional weight when the family story reaches Florence and Rome.
Can I read the Italy books on their own?
The later books have their own settings and conflicts, but they continue the larger family story. Reading in order gives the relationships, separations, and consequences room to unfold naturally.
What formats are available?
The trilogy is available through Amazon in Kindle Unlimited, as eBooks and paperbacks, and as audiobooks on Google Play.