This is a book which repays careful study and illuminates a world which most of its inhabitants would have preferred to have kept hidden. Reviews in History This is an elegantly written concise and clear book that will be a fascinating read for scholars and students alike. -- Tessa Storey Law and History Review This is an elegantly written, concise, and clear book that will be a fascinating read for scholars and students alike. Law and History Review This book, rich in documentary evidence and level-headed when it comes to dispensing overarching theory, paints a vivid portrait of the early-modern conceptualization and regulation of female sexuality. It recognizes the larger cultural shifts-the new censoriousness provided by the Council of Trent, the evolution of Italian cultural and legislative attitudes-but its main purpose is to unearth the poignant, detailed stories of Italian women who found themselves in awful situations. In this endeavour, Ferraro has succeeded triumphantly. Journal of European Studies A thoroughly enjoyable and informative study that will be a great benefit to scholars of Venice and the Mediterranean, crime and criminal procedure, the Reformations, and the history of sexuality. -- Jane Byars Journal of Social History One of the great strengths of the microhistorical method that Ferraro adopts is that it provides a window into the world of individuals long thought to have, at best, muffled historical voices... The work sheds light on social and sexual fissures in early modern families as well as on the function and limitations of early modern justice. It is perhaps an unintended consequence, but a poignant one, that these themes-sexuality in the priesthood, domestic violence, the legal challenges of rape, and the control of women's bodies-resonate in our own times. -- Holly S. Hurlburt Journal of Modern History This is truly a fascinating book. -- Hiram Kumpar Sixteenth Century Journal The compelling stories in this well-written book provoke many thoughts and questions which will doubtless interest many historians of Venice, crime, justice, gender and the family. European History Quarterly
