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About Florenzer
Set in Renaissance-era Florence, this ravishing debut reimagines the intersecting lives of three ambitious young men―a banker, a priest, and a gay painter named Leonardo.
Leonardo da Vinci, twelve years old and a bastard, leaves the Tuscan countryside to join his father in Florence with dreams of becoming a painter. Francesco Salviati, also a bastard and scorned for his too-dark skin, dedicates himself to the Catholic Church with grand hopes of salvation. Towering above them both is Lorenzo de’ Medici, barely a man, yet soon to be the patriarch of the world’s wealthiest and most influential bank. Each is, in his own way, a son of Florence. Each will, when their paths cross, shed blood on Florence’s streets.
Brash and breathtaking, this lush historical drama explores the dangerous pursuit of artistic and political achievement―especially at a time when “florenzers,” or gay men such as Leonardo, were often persecuted. Mining the origins of one of history’s finest artists and the city where he came of age, Florenzer introduces an enthralling new voice in fiction.
Praise for Florenzer
"Phil Melanson’s entertaining historical fiction debut, Florenzer, imagines the early life and same-sex longings of Leonardo da Vinci against the backdrop of a conflict between the Medici family and the Vatican. The novel, which owes a debt to Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy in the detail and immediacy of its telling, feels freshly contemporary in its papal intrigue and plutocratic power battles."
― Charles Arrowsmith, Washington Post
"History buffs will relish in Florenzer, which is set in Renaissance-era Florence and reimagines the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Tapping into the historical speculation that da Vinci was gay, Florenzer follows the young painter as he intersects with two men – one being the powerful patriarch of the world’s wealthiest bank – amid an era of cultural and technological innovation."
― Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY
"Phil Melanson’s debut novel, Florenzer is set in Renaissance-era Florence, and follows three ambitious men―a banker, a priest, and a gay painter named Leonardo. (Yes… that one.) For anyone who loves historical fiction, this is your summer must-read."
― Queerty
"Melanson’s tender historical novel reinterprets the lives of three celebrated men in 15th-century Florence... As each man matures, he grapples with his own ambitions, responsibilities and secrets in the thriving Renaissance city that is also teeming with tension between commerce, art and religion."
― Becky Meloan, Washington Post
"Dreamlike and reflective . . . the novel invites favorable comparisons to other queer historical fiction like The Song of Achilles and Memoirs of Hadrian. . . A unique and well-written addition depicting lesser-known details about the lives of three pivotal Renaissance figures."
― Library Journal
"[An] assured debut . . . Well-researched, proudly lusty historical fiction."
― Kirkus Reviews
"In this inviting debut, Melanson reconstructs Renaissance Florence through intersecting stories of artist Leonardo da Vinci, banker Lorenzo de’ Medici, and priest Francesco Salviati . . . What makes the narrative so approachable is the way it captures these historical figures before their glory, when they’re dogged by the universal and timeless fear that they were born too late and won’t be remembered. Melanson’s immersive tale is worth a look."
― Publishers Weekly
"Packed with exquisite prose, this historical novel makes for compulsive reading―a refreshingly contemporary take on well-trod territory."
― Emily Cox, Art in America