The Curse of Maiden Scars

A Yorkshire orphan struggling for opportunity against 18th-century odds reluctantly transforms into a Venetian courtesan during the Empire's last days.

Renna Covert dreams of a world beyond her Yorkshire life shelling cotton. Having an unlikely education, she hopes to be a maid or even a governess one day. On a fateful night, she meets two men from the West India Company with connections to a country estate and a way out of her urchin life. But before taking a position in the estate's scullery, Renna discovers a girl at the local asylum bearing burn scars like those on her back. She uncovers proof that the girl is her sister. But an unexpected foe disrupts her hunt to unearth her family's dark legacy and has Renna committed to the asylum. With her friends' help, Renna escapes to the Venetian Ghetto. Danielle, a former courtesan, takes Renna in, but only under the condition that she trains in the one profession Renna fought to avoid-prostitution....