Maggie O’Farrell is an author that I have heard extensively of, but until recently I had not delved into any of her books.
Title: The Marriage Portrait
Author: Maggie O’Farrell
Publisher: Headline, Tinder Press
Publication Date: 30th August 2022
Description:
The Marriage Portrait is a dazzling evocation of the Italian Renaissance in all its beauty and brutality.
Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her.
Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence’s grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband.
What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival.
The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.
My Thoughts:
What more could there be to lure you in than a book that is set in Italy and all about Lucrezia de’ Medici, who becomes the Duchess of Ferrara.
The plight of Lucrezia de Medici, the 5th child of the great Cosimo, is brought to life in these pages. It flits between her early life and then to when she becomes the wife of Alfonso of Ferrara. She feels certain that she will be poisoned by her husband. Her husband appears to be two completely different men. She cannot believe that he is capable of dreadful things but perhaps he is.
Thank you to the publisher for the copy via Net Galley.
Cathy Powell 