Book Review: Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan
By Doreen Sheridan
September 13, 2024
Like everyone else with a healthy interest in pop culture and history, I already knew that the Medici family of Europe’s Renaissance period had quite the reputation for being terrible people. However, it was only with this novel, Caitlin Schneiderhan’s illuminating historical mystery for young adult readers, that I wholly understood why.
In the early 16th century, cousins Giovanni and Giulio Medici returned in triumph to the city that had shown them the door years earlier. They’ve used their political and military might to end the Republic of Florence and take what they view as their rightful place as its rulers:
It had not been a bloodless transition, though Florence itself had been spared the worst of it. The honor of setting a harsh and savage example for the city had fallen on…other luckless shoulders. Why, after all, would the Medici want to break the plaything they’d plotted so intricately to reclaim? And so Florence had been cowed into accepting their prodigal patriarchs back with open arms. Giovanni had shelved his Medici name in favor of the appropriately papal Pope Leo X, and Giulio had stepped into the cardinal role his cousin had vacated. But if the angry bills on the walls and the smear on the Pope’s carriage were anything to go by, the Medici’s return to power was far from universally welcome.
Rosa Cellini is one of those angered by their return. She’s seen the terrible things they’ve done, and she won’t take their usurpation of power lying down. Having been raised as a con artist and grifter by her mother Lena, she knows that the best places to hit the Medicis are in their wallet and in their fearsome reputation. By emptying their vault in a daring heist, she’ll be able to damage both. She just needs a crew to help her do it.
Her childhood friend Sarra Nepi is ready to help. Though her father was a criminal just like Lena, he’d asked her on his deathbed to keep her studious brother in the dark about the rest of the family’s illicit activities. By day she acts like a respectable citizen; by night, she’s using her ingenious inventions to rob the houses of the rich.
The two young women have an easy time of recruiting Agata, an apothecarist with a talent for mixing all sorts of chemicals, but must track down the final two pieces they need to make their plan succeed. Master of disguise Giacomo is always up for a lark, and the perpetually combat-ready Khalid is desperate to escape his stultifying existence in Genoa, even if only for a little while. With the help of the famed artist Michelangelo himself, the team is ready to strike a blow for the Republic. But complications old and new have a way of turning up when they’re least needed, much less expected. Will our team of rogues be able to pull off the heist of a century? Failure, after all, leaves them at the mercy of a family already infamous for its ruthlessness.
This YA novel has a ripping first third, as Rosa assembles her crew and readers get to know the setting better. The structure of the book, switching between characters’ points of view and between time periods, can feel a bit dizzying, especially since much of the heist’s planning stages are kept vague in order to maximize suspense for the finale. I’m still honestly not sure how it all worked out, but I did love Ms. Schneiderhan’s exploration of her characters’ feelings as they worked together towards their goal. Rosa, for example, has been so badly scarred by the Medicis that she refuses to open up to Sarra, who very much wants them to be as close as sisters once more. As Sarra comes to her own realization about the harm of shutting herself off from the people she loves, she tells Rosa:
“The secret was the thing that was hurtful,” she said. “Both ways. It was hurting me and it was hurting him.”
“And you’re glad it’s out.” Sarra could see Rosa’s brain whirring, picking apart her words in search of something.
Sarra took a breath. “If we shut each other out, then we evaporate. ‘We’—our family. Us. It evaporates. Does that make sense?” Rosa didn’t say anything, but there was emotion swimming in her eyes. “Anger passes,” Sarra said. “All the dark stuff. It passes. But only if you give it an escape. And then there’s an afterward.”
Medici Heist brings the vibrancy of Michelangelo’s era to life, steeping itself firmly in history to tell a rollicking tale of found family committing crimes for the greater good. Ms. Schneiderhan does excellent work highlighting the universality of many of our protagonists’ emotions, occasionally drawing parallels with modern-day affairs as well. This YA novel is a very accessible if mostly fictional look into what life was like in early 16th century Florence for the poor and desperate but unbroken and brave.