Part One: 1502 Summary

Mirror Mirror is the story of Bianca de Nevada, a young girl living in Italy during the Renaissance. Bianca and her father Vicente live on an estate called Montefiore in the central part of the country. Everything in Bianca's life is safe and predictable and her small world revolves around Vicente and the people on the farm. Bianca's world is turned upside-down, however, when her father leaves Montefiore to undertake what seems like an impossible quest and she is left in the charge of the magnificent but deadly Lucrezia Borgia.

A short section which precedes the narrative proper is entitled "The Roofs of Montefiore." It is narrated in the first-person, but the text gives no indication as to the identity of the speaking subject. The passage is primarily descriptive and focuses on the farm at Montefiore and the surrounding countryside. It...