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Sisters of Twelve
"Its best passages treat knowledge not as treasure, but as something that must be timed, guarded, doubted, and eventually released. I also found the book most compelling when it resisted the easy glamour of conspiracy. The Sisterhood is not simply a clever hidden order; it is an argument about history’s missing hands. The novel’s emotional current comes from its insistence that preservation is work, and that women have often done that work without signatures, monuments, or applause. The scale of the mythology can feel heavy, but that weight is also part of the book’s design. It wants to feel like a codex being opened slowly, page by page, with each layer asking whether understanding is always a gift." - Literary Titan
A six-hundred-year-old manuscript no one can read.
A hidden sisterhood that has safeguarded its meaning for two thousand years.
And a world rapidly approaching the moment it was never meant to reach.
Sisters of Twelve
For centuries, the Voynich Manuscript has defied every attempt at translation. Historians, cryptographers, scientists, and codebreakers have all failed to explain its meaning.
Because the manuscript was never meant to be read in the conventional sense.
In Sisters of Twelve, the Voynich Manuscript is revealed as the current vessel of a system preserved across generations by a hidden lineage of women known as the Sisterhood. Their purpose has never been to conceal knowledge forever, but to control its release, ensuring that discoveries capable of reshaping civilization enter the world only when humanity is ready to survive them.
Now that responsibility belongs to Dr. Gia Braccia, the Sisterhood’s newest Custodian.
As technological advances begin to erode centuries of secrecy, Gia realizes the system can no longer remain hidden indefinitely. The manuscript and its ancient counterpart, the Roman dodecahedron, exist in a world of artificial intelligence, distributed data, 3D imaging, and limitless replication. Time, once the Sisterhood’s greatest advantage, is running out.
What the manuscript contains could transform medicine, science, language, agriculture, and human longevity.
Or it could destabilize governments, deepen inequality, weaponize scarcity, and fracture a civilization already struggling to hold itself together.
As pressure mounts from institutions, private actors, and factions within the Sisterhood itself, Gia must confront the question her predecessors spent centuries avoiding.
Not whether the world deserves the truth.
But whether it can survive it.
Blending historical intrigue with speculative science and philosophical suspense, Sisters of Twelve explores the hidden systems that preserve knowledge across generations and the unseen people history rarely remembers.
From the author of Time Lines comes a story about memory, stewardship, and the dangerous moment when the future arrives before humanity is prepared for it.
A six-hundred-year-old manuscript no one can read.
A hidden sisterhood that has safeguarded its meaning for two thousand years.
And a world rapidly approaching the moment it was never meant to reach.
Sisters of Twelve
For centuries, the Voynich Manuscript has defied every attempt at translation. Historians, cryptographers, scientists, and codebreakers have all failed to explain its meaning.
Because the manuscript was never meant to be read in the conventional sense.
In Sisters of Twelve, the Voynich Manuscript is revealed as the current vessel of a system preserved across generations by a hidden lineage of women known as the Sisterhood. Their purpose has never been to conceal knowledge forever, but to control its release, ensuring that discoveries capable of reshaping civilization enter the world only when humanity is ready to survive them.
Now that responsibility belongs to Dr. Gia Braccia, the Sisterhood’s newest Custodian.
As technological advances begin to erode centuries of secrecy, Gia realizes the system can no longer remain hidden indefinitely. The manuscript and its ancient counterpart, the Roman dodecahedron, exist in a world of artificial intelligence, distributed data, 3D imaging, and limitless replication. Time, once the Sisterhood’s greatest advantage, is running out.
What the manuscript contains could transform medicine, science, language, agriculture, and human longevity.
Or it could destabilize governments, deepen inequality, weaponize scarcity, and fracture a civilization already struggling to hold itself together.
As pressure mounts from institutions, private actors, and factions within the Sisterhood itself, Gia must confront the question her predecessors spent centuries avoiding.
Not whether the world deserves the truth.
But whether it can survive it.
Blending historical intrigue with speculative science and philosophical suspense, Sisters of Twelve explores the hidden systems that preserve knowledge across generations and the unseen people history rarely remembers.
From the author of Time Lines comes a story about memory, stewardship, and the dangerous moment when the future arrives before humanity is prepared for it.
511 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2026
About the author
Giulio Antonio Savo
2 books4 followersGiulio A. Savo is the son of Italian immigrants, the proud father of two remarkable children, and the husband of his best friend.
A graduate of Boston College and Roger Williams University School of Law, he spent years in digital marketing, decoding what people want, and when they want it.
He also spent years at home raising his children, chasing stories, and building a life that mattered.
He is the author of Time Lines. Sisters of Twelve is his second novel.
He believes in love, family, friendship, coffee, long conversations, and that memory isn’t linear.
He lives in New England with his family and their dog, Captain.
A graduate of Boston College and Roger Williams University School of Law, he spent years in digital marketing, decoding what people want, and when they want it.
He also spent years at home raising his children, chasing stories, and building a life that mattered.
He is the author of Time Lines. Sisters of Twelve is his second novel.
He believes in love, family, friendship, coffee, long conversations, and that memory isn’t linear.
He lives in New England with his family and their dog, Captain.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 31, 2026
I liked the idea of this book, but found it to be rather different from what I anticipated.
The Idea of a group of women following the manuscript through history while secretly building an organisation that answers to no one but the sisterhood is interesting as is the idea of how the manuscript was developed and the cipher.
However I found myself struggling to have any interest in most of the characters, while a number of the early custodians were mentioned they only really existed in how they contributed to the manuscript, or the sisterhood and often didn’t feel like individuals. Even Gia the modern day custodian who we spent more time with and saw more of her struggle around what to do with the manuscript and the information it contained, still felt slightly distant.
The last two sections of this book once we had got back to present day and the looming threat of technology potentially finally working out how to understand the manuscript were definitely the parts I found most interesting and I did enjoy the ending.
This is not the book for someone looking for a fast paced thriller, I would recommend this book for someone who enjoys historical fiction, the idea of knowledge being passed through the centuries and hidden orders.
Thank you to Guilio Savo and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review!
The Idea of a group of women following the manuscript through history while secretly building an organisation that answers to no one but the sisterhood is interesting as is the idea of how the manuscript was developed and the cipher.
However I found myself struggling to have any interest in most of the characters, while a number of the early custodians were mentioned they only really existed in how they contributed to the manuscript, or the sisterhood and often didn’t feel like individuals. Even Gia the modern day custodian who we spent more time with and saw more of her struggle around what to do with the manuscript and the information it contained, still felt slightly distant.
The last two sections of this book once we had got back to present day and the looming threat of technology potentially finally working out how to understand the manuscript were definitely the parts I found most interesting and I did enjoy the ending.
This is not the book for someone looking for a fast paced thriller, I would recommend this book for someone who enjoys historical fiction, the idea of knowledge being passed through the centuries and hidden orders.
Thank you to Guilio Savo and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review!
May 3, 2026
This book thrives on tension. From the very beginning, you can feel that something is off—old rules, shared histories, and choices that were never meant to resurface. And yet… they do. Slowly. Painfully. Perfectly.
The bond between the sisters is the heart of this story, and watching it bend under pressure was both fascinating and heartbreaking. Every interaction feels loaded, every tradition carries weight, and the past refuses to stay quiet. The restraint in the storytelling just makes the reveals hit harder.
The secrets. The loyalty. The moments where you realize not everyone is standing on the same side anymore. Savo builds intrigue in quiet ways, letting small cracks turn into something much bigger.
Thank you to Guilio Savo and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review!
The bond between the sisters is the heart of this story, and watching it bend under pressure was both fascinating and heartbreaking. Every interaction feels loaded, every tradition carries weight, and the past refuses to stay quiet. The restraint in the storytelling just makes the reveals hit harder.
The secrets. The loyalty. The moments where you realize not everyone is standing on the same side anymore. Savo builds intrigue in quiet ways, letting small cracks turn into something much bigger.
Thank you to Guilio Savo and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review!
Review of advance copy
Guilio Savo the author of "Sisters of Twelve," purpose in writing this story is to express his personal belief how memory is not linear. The definition of this phrase is how is the past is never behind us. The past exists similtaneously with the present. The past certainly influences one's present life. The author's primary aim in writing this story is to explore the ethical and his responsibility of guarding transformational knowledge. The person guarding the knowledge is Gianna Braccia. Mr. Savo does not perceive history as a series of events but a guarded maintained by the wisdom and sacrifice of women.
The story reflects the author's view of women. He views as the silent but essential architects of human history. Woman have been the guardians for the past 2,000 years of the Voynich Manuscript. The Voynich Manuscript is a 2,000 year old "system of knowledge." The manuscript is a 15th century illustrated codex. Its famous for being written in an entirely unknown and deciphered script. No one has ever translated the manuscript.
The author has chosen women as guardian of the manuscript because of their historical role as the silent architects of society. He believes women are the ones who are quietly ensuring that culture,family,and knowledge from generation to generation. Men, according to the author, are louder leaning towards war and politics. Women have been overlookd as pursuers of wisdom. The secretof the manuscript has been passed down through a female lineage. This creates a bond that lasts now for two thousand years. The sisters are patient with generational burden of care. They refused to pursue immediate power or recognition.
As one reads the story, the reader needs to comprehend the significance of the author's style of writing. He develops a genre bending approach with blending the writing with speculative fiction. Genre bending approach is defined as not allowing the story to be defined in one category. The author weaves three distinct writing genres to create the genre bending effect. The genres are:
1. Historical Procedure: This is the traditional aspect of the story. The style of writing is similar to a traditional mystery story and thriller. The style permits the writer to describe ancient Roman settings, medieval writings, and modern academic research. The author is able to focus on the tangible aspects of the Voynich Manuscript.
2. Lyrical Surrealism: The author shifts from facts to a more poetic prose. This is accomplished by describing the intangible aspects of the Sisters' hood lives. The style of writng is often described as dreamscape or a stream of consciousness. The writing style is employed to write about the emotions of the characters.
3. Speculative Philosphy:The style of writing is abstract and intellectual. The author abandons the plot to explore more highly developed concept ideas. He relies on a non-linear genre. Non linear writing is the story goes back and forth from the present to the past then back to the present. This is to accomplish the messiness of memory. The style of writing demands that the reader has to decode the inferred meaning of the mystery.
By blending the genres, Mr. Savo assures that the story feels as if it is a fast-passed hunt for secrets and meditationi.e Dan Brownn.
This is the story to read if you want a story that will have the illusion of being a dreamy, high-stakes puzzle about the power of information. The story is an intellectual mystery blending genuine historical research with philosophical reasoning. Mr. Savo offers to his readers a fascinating but fictional solution to the real life Voyonich Manuscript. The manuscript has remained a mystery for 600 years. Most importantly about the stoy is the author's portrayal of women. He regards women as the primary guardians of human knowledge. You will not be disappointed by this reading this book. You will not be able to stop reading the story until the end. Enjoy!
The story reflects the author's view of women. He views as the silent but essential architects of human history. Woman have been the guardians for the past 2,000 years of the Voynich Manuscript. The Voynich Manuscript is a 2,000 year old "system of knowledge." The manuscript is a 15th century illustrated codex. Its famous for being written in an entirely unknown and deciphered script. No one has ever translated the manuscript.
The author has chosen women as guardian of the manuscript because of their historical role as the silent architects of society. He believes women are the ones who are quietly ensuring that culture,family,and knowledge from generation to generation. Men, according to the author, are louder leaning towards war and politics. Women have been overlookd as pursuers of wisdom. The secretof the manuscript has been passed down through a female lineage. This creates a bond that lasts now for two thousand years. The sisters are patient with generational burden of care. They refused to pursue immediate power or recognition.
As one reads the story, the reader needs to comprehend the significance of the author's style of writing. He develops a genre bending approach with blending the writing with speculative fiction. Genre bending approach is defined as not allowing the story to be defined in one category. The author weaves three distinct writing genres to create the genre bending effect. The genres are:
1. Historical Procedure: This is the traditional aspect of the story. The style of writing is similar to a traditional mystery story and thriller. The style permits the writer to describe ancient Roman settings, medieval writings, and modern academic research. The author is able to focus on the tangible aspects of the Voynich Manuscript.
2. Lyrical Surrealism: The author shifts from facts to a more poetic prose. This is accomplished by describing the intangible aspects of the Sisters' hood lives. The style of writng is often described as dreamscape or a stream of consciousness. The writing style is employed to write about the emotions of the characters.
3. Speculative Philosphy:The style of writing is abstract and intellectual. The author abandons the plot to explore more highly developed concept ideas. He relies on a non-linear genre. Non linear writing is the story goes back and forth from the present to the past then back to the present. This is to accomplish the messiness of memory. The style of writing demands that the reader has to decode the inferred meaning of the mystery.
By blending the genres, Mr. Savo assures that the story feels as if it is a fast-passed hunt for secrets and meditationi.e Dan Brownn.
This is the story to read if you want a story that will have the illusion of being a dreamy, high-stakes puzzle about the power of information. The story is an intellectual mystery blending genuine historical research with philosophical reasoning. Mr. Savo offers to his readers a fascinating but fictional solution to the real life Voyonich Manuscript. The manuscript has remained a mystery for 600 years. Most importantly about the stoy is the author's portrayal of women. He regards women as the primary guardians of human knowledge. You will not be disappointed by this reading this book. You will not be able to stop reading the story until the end. Enjoy!
Review of advance copy received from Author
Sisters of Twelve is a historical mystery thriller built around the Voynich Manuscript, imagining that its unreadable pages are not a failed puzzle but a deliberately protected vault of knowledge, carried across centuries by a hidden lineage of women called the Custodians. At the center is Gia Braccia, the final Custodian, who must decide whether the world is finally ready for what the manuscript contains—and whether preservation has become its own kind of captivity. The novel braids real historical figures, archival intrigue, secret societies, scholarly obsession, and speculative systems into a story about women who kept knowledge alive when history preferred them nameless.
The book doesn't rush toward revelation; it understands that secrecy has texture, procedure, dust, paperwork, and dread. The scenes inside libraries and archives have an almost mineral stillness, and I liked how the novel makes bureaucracy feel thrilling, not through car chases or melodrama, but through delayed emails, loan agreements, box numbers, and the soft violence of institutional language. Its best passages treat knowledge not as treasure, but as burden: something that must be timed, guarded, doubted, and eventually released.
I also found the book most compelling when it resisted the easy glamour of conspiracy. The Sisterhood is not simply a clever hidden order; it is an argument about history’s missing hands. The novel’s emotional current comes from its insistence that preservation is work, and that women have often done that work without signatures, monuments, or applause. The scale of the mythology can feel heavy, but that weight is also part of the book’s design. It wants to feel like a codex being opened slowly, page by page, with each layer asking whether understanding is always a gift.
This book is for readers who enjoy mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, and the intrigue of the Voynich Manuscript. Fans of The Da Vinci Code may recognize the pleasure of symbols, suppressed histories, and dangerous knowledge, but Giulio A. Savo’s approach is quieter and more contemplative, closer in spirit to Umberto Eco’s fascination with texts, interpretation, and the peril of certainty. Sisters of Twelve is a novel about the moment a secret stops being protected and starts becoming responsible to the world.
The book doesn't rush toward revelation; it understands that secrecy has texture, procedure, dust, paperwork, and dread. The scenes inside libraries and archives have an almost mineral stillness, and I liked how the novel makes bureaucracy feel thrilling, not through car chases or melodrama, but through delayed emails, loan agreements, box numbers, and the soft violence of institutional language. Its best passages treat knowledge not as treasure, but as burden: something that must be timed, guarded, doubted, and eventually released.
I also found the book most compelling when it resisted the easy glamour of conspiracy. The Sisterhood is not simply a clever hidden order; it is an argument about history’s missing hands. The novel’s emotional current comes from its insistence that preservation is work, and that women have often done that work without signatures, monuments, or applause. The scale of the mythology can feel heavy, but that weight is also part of the book’s design. It wants to feel like a codex being opened slowly, page by page, with each layer asking whether understanding is always a gift.
This book is for readers who enjoy mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, and the intrigue of the Voynich Manuscript. Fans of The Da Vinci Code may recognize the pleasure of symbols, suppressed histories, and dangerous knowledge, but Giulio A. Savo’s approach is quieter and more contemplative, closer in spirit to Umberto Eco’s fascination with texts, interpretation, and the peril of certainty. Sisters of Twelve is a novel about the moment a secret stops being protected and starts becoming responsible to the world.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is a fascinating novel, reminiscent of Dan Brown’s fiction surrounding the Templars. It proposes a fictional backstory and solution to the real life mystery of the Voynich manuscript.
It is captivating, compelling, and a story that spans over two thousand years of quiet guardianship by remarkable women, hiding their secret in plain sight until the world is ready for knowledge.
The book doesn’t neatly fit a single genre. It contains both history and speculative fiction, mystery, science and technology, to list a few attributes. It highlights women as silent architects and custodians of civilization and society. They guard knowledge that has been lost by the world, that the world is not yet ready to rediscover. The women also bear the burden of identifying WHEN the knowledge must be reintegrated.
Strong characters playing an EXTREMELY long game, the costs of patience and restraint, the importance of independence from government and corporations, and an extraordinary back story make this an entertaining read. I highlighted so many sections that really “spoke” to me.
If you enjoy suspense, tension, speculation, history, mystery, blending of fact and fiction, strong women and intellectual curiosity, you will love this book!
#historical #mystery #women #knowledge as capital
It is captivating, compelling, and a story that spans over two thousand years of quiet guardianship by remarkable women, hiding their secret in plain sight until the world is ready for knowledge.
The book doesn’t neatly fit a single genre. It contains both history and speculative fiction, mystery, science and technology, to list a few attributes. It highlights women as silent architects and custodians of civilization and society. They guard knowledge that has been lost by the world, that the world is not yet ready to rediscover. The women also bear the burden of identifying WHEN the knowledge must be reintegrated.
Strong characters playing an EXTREMELY long game, the costs of patience and restraint, the importance of independence from government and corporations, and an extraordinary back story make this an entertaining read. I highlighted so many sections that really “spoke” to me.
If you enjoy suspense, tension, speculation, history, mystery, blending of fact and fiction, strong women and intellectual curiosity, you will love this book!
#historical #mystery #women #knowledge as capital
Review of advance copy received from Author
Sisters of Twelve…what can I say… I was pulled in from the first moment I started reading. The author does a great job of grabbing your attention.
It’s about a sisterhood that spans centuries and countries and these women have only one common goal…that is to protect what was created by them until they believe the world is ready for the knowledge the manuscript holds.
What would you do if you were entrusted to keep hidden and safe something so precious to the women before you? Would you be able to take the pressure? Would you rely on yourself or gain reassurance from your most trusted fellow sister(s) to help guide you?
The way the author brings the characters to life makes you feel that you know them on a personal level and are a champion of their cause. Every one of these women has a purpose in telling the story. Their strength and self-confidence, even sometimes wavering, only makes them more human and endearing.
The stage is set for one person to decide when the time is right, but before then everything that happens is with purpose and choreographed with a means to an end.
I definitely recommend reading this book if you like mystery, suspense, and strong characters. It’s a book you will not be able to put down once you start reading.
It’s about a sisterhood that spans centuries and countries and these women have only one common goal…that is to protect what was created by them until they believe the world is ready for the knowledge the manuscript holds.
What would you do if you were entrusted to keep hidden and safe something so precious to the women before you? Would you be able to take the pressure? Would you rely on yourself or gain reassurance from your most trusted fellow sister(s) to help guide you?
The way the author brings the characters to life makes you feel that you know them on a personal level and are a champion of their cause. Every one of these women has a purpose in telling the story. Their strength and self-confidence, even sometimes wavering, only makes them more human and endearing.
The stage is set for one person to decide when the time is right, but before then everything that happens is with purpose and choreographed with a means to an end.
I definitely recommend reading this book if you like mystery, suspense, and strong characters. It’s a book you will not be able to put down once you start reading.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Sisters of 12 by Giulio A. Savo completely pulled me in from the start. I had never even heard of the Voynich Manuscript before, but this book made me instantly curious about it.
The idea that women have protected a powerful secret for over 2,000 years, waiting for the right moment to reveal it, is both fascinating and empowering. The author’s imagination really shines, blending mystery with history in a way that keeps you thinking.
What stood out to me most is how it makes you reflect on the real-life mystery of the manuscript and how, even today, it still hasn’t been translated. That adds such a mind-boggling layer to the story.
By the end, I was left reflecting on how much history, knowledge, and mystery can remain hidden in plain sight. The final moments especially lingered with me, tying together that sense of wonder and leaving me thinking, will this ever be deciphered, long after I finished reading.
Definitely a read.
The idea that women have protected a powerful secret for over 2,000 years, waiting for the right moment to reveal it, is both fascinating and empowering. The author’s imagination really shines, blending mystery with history in a way that keeps you thinking.
What stood out to me most is how it makes you reflect on the real-life mystery of the manuscript and how, even today, it still hasn’t been translated. That adds such a mind-boggling layer to the story.
By the end, I was left reflecting on how much history, knowledge, and mystery can remain hidden in plain sight. The final moments especially lingered with me, tying together that sense of wonder and leaving me thinking, will this ever be deciphered, long after I finished reading.
Definitely a read.
Review of advance copy
I have mixed feelings about this book, on one hand I wanted to keep reading to see if it would go somewhere, on the other hand, it left me feeling like it only scratched the surface.
The idea for this book was certainly an intriguing one because I wanted to see how the idea would be developed. It seemed to match the theme of avoiding notice, not wanting others to dig deep. This felt more like a recounting of facts carried through the ages with nothing for me to bite into. I was beginning to wonder if the repetitive circling of the garden, simply with different names would change because I was beginning to get bored, then I noticed I had read 75% of the book. So, I kept going in the hopes that being near the end it would get "juicier". In the end, this book left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied, hungry for something with more depth, more engagement.
I received an advance review copy for free and voluntarily leave this review.
The idea for this book was certainly an intriguing one because I wanted to see how the idea would be developed. It seemed to match the theme of avoiding notice, not wanting others to dig deep. This felt more like a recounting of facts carried through the ages with nothing for me to bite into. I was beginning to wonder if the repetitive circling of the garden, simply with different names would change because I was beginning to get bored, then I noticed I had read 75% of the book. So, I kept going in the hopes that being near the end it would get "juicier". In the end, this book left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied, hungry for something with more depth, more engagement.
I received an advance review copy for free and voluntarily leave this review.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Sisters of Twelve is a well written engaging historical fiction tale beginning with the Voynich Manuscript which is a real book, 600 years old, housed at the Beinecke Library at Yale University which has never been deciphered. Written in an unknown language, this manuscript has mystified scholars for years. Savo weaves a tale of a group of women who over centuries is tasked with protecting the knowledge in this book from the world and deciding when the world is ready to learn of its secrets that could potentially lead to discoveries beyond anyone's imagination. It is a book about a group of strong women who have sacrificed parts of their lives to protect the knowledge within the manuscript. They are the unsung heroes but some believe they have no right to decide when and if the world is ready. This is a story of sacrifice, knowledge, risk and hope. It will not disappoint.
Review of advance copy
This would have to be the most intriguing book i have read for a long time. And most compelling it is based on a manuscript that I had never heard of, itslef an enigma. Whilst this story is one that is based upon information adn knowledge that is to stay under the radar, the story in itself most cetainly does not. I enjoyed following from the beginnning all the way down the timeline to present day and beyond.
Cerrainly one for the conspiracy theorists .
On the other hand is the thread of the strength of the female line throughout the cetnries. A dedication to the ones that keep the cogs turning but without recognition.
A truly work of art
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Cerrainly one for the conspiracy theorists .
On the other hand is the thread of the strength of the female line throughout the cetnries. A dedication to the ones that keep the cogs turning but without recognition.
A truly work of art
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Boy much Manuscript has for nearly six hundred years stumped everyone by being indecipherable although many have tried. The book is guarded by the Sisterhood. Gia Braccia, is the newest guardian of the manuscript. Filled with ancient knowledge and only to be revealed when the time is right. But is the world ready for what it holds?
Rich in history the book takes the reader from ancient Rome forward. Characters are well developed. A story that is believable. An enjoyable read that also makes the reader think! Thanks #Netgalley and #GiulioASavo for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.
Rich in history the book takes the reader from ancient Rome forward. Characters are well developed. A story that is believable. An enjoyable read that also makes the reader think! Thanks #Netgalley and #GiulioASavo for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.
May 28, 2026
The book is based around the Voynich Manuscript - this in itself set me off on a google rabbit hole and adds a fascinating layer to the story - (Do check that out if you haven't already)
Sister of Twelve follows Gia - the last custodian, who is part a long line of women who have protected the knowledge that the Manuscript holds, until it time for the secrets to be revealed.
It's a very interesting read - I had never heard of the Voynich Manuscript before, so adding real life mystery to a fictional story line is a clever hook, gave me Dan Brown vibes.
Sister of Twelve follows Gia - the last custodian, who is part a long line of women who have protected the knowledge that the Manuscript holds, until it time for the secrets to be revealed.
It's a very interesting read - I had never heard of the Voynich Manuscript before, so adding real life mystery to a fictional story line is a clever hook, gave me Dan Brown vibes.
Review of advance copy
I'm not really sure what rating to give this book. I did enjoy it, but wasn't gripped. The premise is really interesting, but the book lacked emotion. I realise that the writing style is largely the reason for this, and it is well-written, but I think that some emotion, particularly towards the end, would have added to the plot. My thanks to BookSirens for the opportunity to read it.
May 28, 2026
For any reader who has had a curiosity about the Voynich Manuscript, a mystery centuries old, this is the best read! The mystery unfolds slowly and understandably. I cared about the women who were tasked with protecting this mystery.
The blending of historical figures, and modern figures, was blended seamlessly.
I am proud to have this book in my personal library.
The blending of historical figures, and modern figures, was blended seamlessly.
I am proud to have this book in my personal library.
Did Not Finish
June 12, 2026I'm sorry to the author but I had a hard time getting into the story
I had high hopes for this book, but it wasn't for me.
Please don't go by my review
I had high hopes for this book, but it wasn't for me.
Please don't go by my review
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews