These Wicked Devices

THE HOLY CITY IS NO PLACE FOR MERCY'Matthew Plampin should rank with the best' Sunday Times
'Plampin is heartbreakingly good' The Times
'Gripping, immersive, at times very funny and beautifully written, this is historical fiction of the highest quality' Elizabeth Fremantle
Rome, 1650.
The streets are teeming as thousands of pilgrims flood in for the Holy Jubilee, but behind the gilded façade of the Vatican, power is unravelling.
Donna Olimpia Maidalchini has long kept Pope Innocent X under her thumb, but as loyalties shift, her enemies close in. And her most dangerous opponents may be those she deems too weak to matter.
Two destitute nuns arrive, fleeing the ruined city of Castro and each carrying secrets that could destroy them.
Meanwhile, the assistant to the famed Spanish artist Diego Velázquez is drawn into a perilous conspiracy - one that could bring Italy to its knees, and against which his own desperate ambitions seem to count for nothing.
As the sweltering summer heat rises, survival, not salvation, becomes the ultimate goal - and in this world of sin, saints almost never survive.

About the author

Matthew Plampin is the author of several highly acclaimed historical novels, most recently Will and Tom and Mrs Whistler. He has a PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art and has worked as a lecturer, tour guide and children's author. He lives in London with his wife and son.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Plampin, Plampin Matthew
• Publisher: The Borough Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Release: 07.05.2026
• EAN: 9780008163686
• ISBN: 978-0-00-816368-6
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 24 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Historical / General, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Fiction: special features, Historical fiction, FICTION / Classics, FICTION / Political, Classic fiction (pre c 1945), Narrative theme: Politics, Historical and cultural areas within Italy, Early 17th century c 1600 to c 1650, Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction, Fiction based on or inspired by true events, Classic fiction: general and literary, 1559–1714 (period of Spanish domination in Italy), FICTION / Biographical & Autofiction