{"product_id":"the-stars-dispose-9780312857547","title":"The Stars Dispose","description":"\u003cp\u003eSet in Renaissance Florence  this fantasy retelling of the life of Catherine de Medici is as beautiful and as richly magical as the works of the great artists who people its pages. When Catherine was born  she was the sole legitimate heir to a great fortune and great power. But her father had died before she was born  and her mother died only a few weeks afterward  leaving the child to the guardianship of the pope and the fosterage of servants. From this beginning  Roessner tells an intimate story  of the servant families of the Medici who practice the secret magics of the kitchen and hearth. The Befanini family is bound to the Medici by blood and oaths  through children born on the wrong side of the blanket  recognized but not legitimate. Thomas  the son of Catherines foster mother  is bound particularly to Catherine by magic and love  for he is destined to become Catherines chef  and to that end he is not only taught the arts of the kitchen but is apprenticed out to a sculptor  and befriended by the great Michelangelo. But war intervenes in the charted courses of these children  and in the struggles between the pope and the German emperor and the city of Florence itself  their futures - and their very lives - are set at risk.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67923764641845,"sku":"ByrdShop_0312857543","price":88.04,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780312857547.jpg?v=1794113738","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-stars-dispose-9780312857547","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}