The Enchantress of Florence by S. Rushdie - 1

Salman Rushdie
The Enchantress of Florence
Ramdom House
on sale May 27, 2008
"It is the story of two cities, unknown to each other, at the height of their powers–the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant Akbar the Great wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire, and the treachery of his sons, and the equally sensual city of Florence during the High Renaissance, where Niccolò Machiavelli takes a starring role as he learns, the hard way, about the true brutality of power." (Random House)
A subplot of this postmodernist novel involves three Florentine friends - Niccolo' Machiavelli ("il Machia"), Antonino Argalia, and Agostino Vespucci (cousin of Amerigo and the man who wrote a 1503 margin note in a book in the University of Heidelberg that conducted Dr Armin Schlecther to confirm a Vasari comment and identify Mona Lisa as Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family).

An article by Joyce Carol Oates appears in "The New York Review of Books" - Volume 55, Number 10, June 12, 2008