No-one knows who was the model for Michelangelo's famous statue of David in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence – or even if there was one.

In David: the Unofficial Autobiography, Mary Hoffman imagines the life of the man who inspired Michelangelo and whose likeness has stood in stone for more than five hundred years. She fills history's gaps with the story of Gabriele, the sculptor's eighteen-year-old "milk brother" who comes to the city in search of fortune and finds fame of all the wrong kind. It isn't long before he is caught up in the political factions of early cinquecento Florence and the way he looks ensures that his sentimental education is as turbulent as his life as a spy and double agent.

Originally published by Bloomsbury Children's, David: the Unofficial Autobiographyis now being published in a newly revised edition for the adult market.