Venice 1570 AD: The well-ordered life of Desdemona Brabantio is turned upside down when she meets the temperamental general Christoforo Moro. Despite a considerable age difference they fall head over heels in love. The unlikely couple gets caught up in a whirlwind of emotion and forges a risky plan: after a secret wedding Desdemona is to follow her husband to the island of Cyprus. The battle-experienced general has to defend the strategically important island against the Ottoman attackers. But Moro has an enemy who betrays the couple and kindles a deadly intrigue… With her adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello” Silvia Stolzenburg demonstrates once again how she is able to breathe life into historical material. By looking at the characters from a different standpoint, they become alive in this novel. The authoress skilfully combines the tragedy of the story with a second narrative thread which completes the picture of the time presented and transports the reader back into Sultan Selim II’s court. Tension and emotion lie at the heart of this historical novel.