Flavia was born with a birthmark covering her face, in the shape of a bird in flight. A dyer's daughter, she grows up in a little house in the woods, far away from prying eyes. Ashamed of the mark, her mother has concealed Flavia's face behind a veil all her young life. But on the night before her younger sister's wedding, Flavia does something drastic, something that will draw her into a much wider and stranger world than she could have imagined: the convent of Santa Giuliana, just outside the city walls of Perugia.There she meets Ghostanza, a courtesan turned widow, whose white-lead painted face entrances Flavia, and whose beauty and cruelty are unmatched. Flavia becomes her ornatrix, her hairdresser and personal maid. But as white-lead paint rots the flesh below it, so Perugia, and Santa Giuliana, is rotten below the shimmer of wealth and privilege. And Flavia is drawn into a world of desire and jealousy that has devastating consequences.