La prima regina

In June 1868, when she first entered the Villa Reale in Monza, Nina was a young woman swept up in the events of the time. A mere kitchen maid, she was tasked with looking after the room of Princess Margherita, who had been married to the heir to the Italian throne for only a few months. For Nina, this is no dream, but a nightmare, for she soon realises she is a pawn in the hands of others, a figure in a labyrinth of intrigue. Her encounter with an elderly butler of the House of Savoy, however, changes her life. Nina will learn to read and write, she will study, she will find love and, over the years, her path will run alongside that of the most admired woman in Italy, Queen Margherita. Until the day she is forced to make an agonising choice… In June 1868, when she first enters the Royal Villa of Monza, Margherita feels as though she is living in a time suspended in limbo. Her entire existence has been devoted to preparing for that role: to be the worthy and impeccable consort of a prince of royal blood. But to her husband Umberto, it is as though she does not exist. The marriage is a sham; her sole task is to produce a male heir and then fade into the shadows behind Umberto. Yet Margherita has no intention of sacrificing herself for the sake of the Crown. And so it is she who will win the love of the people, she who will charm the rebellious Roman aristocracy, she who will become an icon of her time: the First Queen of Italy. Until that fateful day in July 1900, when her whole world is turned upside down in an instant… With passion and a genuine talent for recreating the atmosphere of a fascinating period in our history, the author brings to life two unforgettable protagonists, Nina and Margherita, two women at opposite ends of the social spectrum united by the same determination not to be caged by courtly rules, two very different women who will have the courage to fight to forge their own destinies.