Finished
R.A. MacAvoy's Italian Renaissance-set fantasy-with-witches-and-angels
Damiano, which was a very good coming-of-age story with simple, lyrical prose.
Unfortunately, the e-book edition is marred by a couple of minor typos and the inexplicable removal of scene breaks, so that everything runs together, as I discovered when I compared a paperback version I spotted in the used bookstore. This doesn't ruin comprehension or even affect the story flow at all, but it does make events look weirdly squished together. Good thing I got this for only $4.50 during a sale.
I really want to get started the next in the trilogy soon, but since I've been reading through my Fictionwise purchases to determine which authors to pick up during the recent deep-discount sale, now on
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro of vampire Count de Saint-Germain fame's non-vampire (so far) medieval France during the time of Plague historical novel,
A Mortal Glamour.
It's set initially in a convent, but seems to be moving out into the world beyond, and it's been pretty good so far. Impositions of faith and questions of rebellion and cloistering vs. worldliness so forth. Only one typo and a couple of wrong-way-round curly quotes spotted thus far.
Based on what I've read, MacAvoy and Yarbro have probably earned a secure spot on my buy-list from now on, but I'll have to give them a couple more tries before committing to their backlists for sure.