'The Secret Books of Venus' series - each book woven around the alchemical elements of water, fire, earth, and air - begins with 'Faces Under Water', in which Tanith Lee immerses her readers in ancient Venetian canals and the secret terror that lies beneath. Lee's characters are immediately plunged into a fantastical world of sorcery where horror and beauty mingle under breathless spells of enchantment and desire.
In the hedonistic atmosphere of an eighteenth-century Venice Carnival, gaiety turns deadly when Furian Furiano happens upon a mask of Apollo floating in the murky waters of the canals. The mask hides a sinister art, and Furian finds himself trapped in a bizarre tangle of love, obsession, and evil, stumbling upon a macabre society of murderers.
The beautiful but elusive Eurydiche holds the key to these murders and leads him further into a labyrinth of black magic and ancient alchemy. Furian must find a way to survive and stem the obsession driving him toward his hidden destiny.
