This is going to be a little uncomfortable...

The book of human skin is a large volume with many pages of villainy writ upon it.
There are people who are a disease, you know.

13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her...

"‘This book is fabulous - funny, horrific, subversive - in short a wholly addictive read. I don't think I have enjoyed anything as much since Perfume'" - Joanne Harris

"‘If it doesn't scoop all the prizes, we live in an unjust world. It's an absolute corker ... It's years since I enjoyed a novel this much - or felt such strong envy of an author for having the breadth and richness of imagination to create such a world'" - A.N. Wilson

"‘This is, essentially, a love story told by a delightfully riotous collection of characters and voices ... Fantastically gripping'" - Marie Claire

"‘A witty, exciting, over-the-top page-turner which becomes increasingly addictive... Quite unlike anything else around - and all the better for that'" - Daily Mail