Der Pestheilige

The year is 1546 and a strange child has been abandoned at the San Barnabo shelter for foundlings in Venice. Sister Clara feels mysteriously drawn to him and is compelled to claim him as her own. She is the first of many for whom Marin will assume the shape of their lost or unfulfilled love. As Marin grows into adulthood the waters of the lagoon rise, fish appear on the streets and the city is struck by a plague with symptoms that resemble drowning. The people are desperate for salvation and find it in San Barnabo, sacrificed hundreds of years before in order to save the city, and now returned in the shape of Marin. 'Teeming with fantastical characters and extravagant scenes from sixteenth-century Venice, The Man Who Was Loved is a deeply affecting tale of love, avarice and intrigue. 'A sensuous blur of exotic imagery and colour, of careening time and beauty. This is a remarkable and compelling story and a breathtaking debut.' Robert Plant 'Elegant ... one of her favourite novelists is F. Scott Fitzgerald ... her prose is just as beautiful... Magical' authortrek.com 'MacCauley writes like a profane angel. Sensuous and evocative, 16th century Venice, with its decadent beauty and decay, soon gets under the skin ... this is a novel to savour and not gobble up ... a stunning debut.' Historical Novels Review