Nina Wachs­man is the descen­dant of a famous rab­bi of the Ghet­to and the Sab­bath can­dle­sticks are a fam­i­ly heir­loom from the Venet­ian Ghet­to. She stud­ied art at the Par­sons School of Design, and comes to Venice every two years to attend the inter­na­tion­al Venice Art Bien­ni­ale. She loves read­ing and writ­ing his­tor­i­cal mys­ter­ies, and is a mem­ber of Sis­ters in Crime, Women’s Fic­tion Writer’s Asso­ci­a­tion, and His­tor­i­cal Nov­el Soci­ety. She lives with her hus­band on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.