When Gabriella Mondini recieves a letter from her physician father saying that he has decided not to come home from his travels, Gabriella, a rare female doctor in 16th century Venice, decides to venture across Europe to retrieve him. Not only does Gabriella rely on him to support her professional membership in the physicians' guild, but she suspects that something must be terribly wrong for her father to abandon her family in such a way. Accompanied by her servants, Olmina and Lorenzo, she follows the geographic clues of her father's correspondance from the past ten years from village to village.

The journey places Gabrielle in dangerous situations and the fact that she is a woman and a doctor only complicates things further. She also discovers more and more about her father, strange information that might explain why  he has vansihed. This lyrical debut novel from O'Melveny presents a unique female character historical fiction and mystery fans are sure to appreciate.