A sweeping novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy, as a young woman discovers that her own fate is irrevocably tied--for better or worse--to literature's greatest star-crossed lovers. Twenty-five-year-old Julie Jacobs is heartbroken over the death of her beloved aunt Rose. But the shock goes even deeper when she learns that the woman who has been like a mother to her has left her entire estate to Julie's twin sister. The only thing Julie receives is a key--one carried by her mother on the day she herself died--to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy. This key sends Julie on a journey that will change her life forever--a journey into the troubled past of her ancestor Giulietta Tolomei. In 1340, still reeling from the slaughter of her parents, Giulietta was smuggled into Siena, where she met a young man named Romeo. Their ill-fated love turned medieval Siena upside-down and went on to inspire generations of poets and artists, the story reaching its pinnacle in Shakespeare's