Maggie O’Farrell writes great books. A gift for my birthday, apt as I was going to Venice (although the book is set in Florence and Ferrara but the ties are there nonetheless), O’Farrell’s book tells the story of Lucrezia, the youngest daughter of the famous Medici dynasty of Florence in the 1600s, her father being Cosimo, her mother, Eleanor.
We see her from her very conception through to her end as Duchess and it is a captivating story from start to finish. When she is married off to the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso, at the tender age of fifteen, she is exposed to a life for which she is ill prepared: she understands that her role is one centred on providing an heir and quickly, but the nuances and trappings of an arranged marriage and what this may mean soon manifest themselves to her and not all of them meet her expectations. Her role models for a marriage, her mother and father, display a partnership, one where the male is dominant and obeyed, for certain, but also one which is respectful, Eleanor sharing in discussion about issues that Cosimo may be facing. Alfonso, however, does not see his Duchess this way and shields and restricts Lucrezia’s knowledge and awareness, much to her frustration.
O’Farrell depicts a life where duty is paramount and Lucrezia is a pawn, a bargaining tool to assure peace between power bases. However, she is keen for Lucrezia’s personality to be central to the story and so, we see a girl who has inner strength and intuition as well as intelligence and talent; who realises that she is going to have to temper her reactions in order to survive; and that she is in the presence of a man who is mercurial but also extremely astute, who is alert and watchful and predatory. Alfonso also has an ally in the form of Leonello Baldassare, who is a menacing presence throughout the book to whom Lucrezia shows grave wariness. And rightly so.
A true storyteller, O’Farrell creates a taut tale where you root for the heroine without deviation but also a beautifully written book with motifs (tigers and lions e.g.) and a sense of place which is augmented considerably by O’Farrell’s ability to describe in detail the situations in her book which are vivid but without density; you glide through her fiction, thrilled by it all.
Recommended.
Scuffed Granny 