Anna Rasche celebrates the release of THE STONE WITCH OF FLORENCE in conversation with Colin Dickey

A spellbinding debut that follows a young woman who harnesses the strange, ancient magic of gemstones to investigate a series of shocking crimes in plague-stricken Florence, all the while proving she is more physician than witch, perfect for fans of The Lost Apothecary.

A woman's secret. A deadly Plague. Unleash the hidden magic…

1348. As the Black Plague ravages Italy, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence after nearly a decade of lonely exile. Ginevra has a gift—harnessing the hidden powers of gemstones, she can heal the sick. But when word spread of her unusual abilities, she was condemned as a witch and banished. Now the same men who expelled Ginevra are begging for her return.

Ginevra obliges, assuming the city’s leaders are finally ready to accept her unorthodox cures amid a pandemic. But upon arrival, she is tasked with a much different mission: she must use her collection of jewels to track down a ruthless thief who is ransacking Florence’s churches for priceless relics—the city’s only hope for protection. If she succeeds, she’ll be a recognized physician and never accused of witchcraft again.

But as her investigation progresses, Ginevra discovers she’s merely a pawn in a much larger scheme than the one she’s been hired to solve. And the dangerous men behind this conspiracy won’t think twice about killing a stone witch to get what they want…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND CONVERSATION PARTNER

Anna Rasche is a historian and gemologist who has previously worked in the jewelry collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as a curatorial fellow at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Rasche's debut is based on original research she conducted on the uses of gemstones in medieval medicine at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and on site in Italy. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and infant daughter.

Colin Dickey is the author of five books, including Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, and, most recently, Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy.