"I'm sorry... Books with the scent of happiness are rare. Signore Francesco says they are so rare that you have to pay a fortune to buy them. I, on the other hand, say that for a book of happiness to be revealed to you, you must first have experienced all the scents. You have to read many... otherwise, how will you understand that what you hold is happiness?"

Venice. A bookstore different from the usual. A bookstore where you choose books based on the scent they emit and with the help of little Irene, who doesn't know how to read. A captivating world, with countless editions, rare and new, delivered at midnight by a man dressed in black with his gondola.

Romanos, the Greek with the heretical blood, passionately hunts for old manuscripts and parchments, while dragging the beautiful Elisabetta into a destructive love affair. Behind the half-open shutters of a famous brothel, Signora pulls invisible strings and intervenes in people's lives.

When the tide approaches and the water in the lagoon swells, the city weeps to wash away a great sin that weighs on the shoulders of the guilty and the innocent.

A novel-exploration into the mysterious world of human relationships set against the atmospheric and romantic Venice.