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Chargement... The Marriage Portrait: A novel (original 2022; édition 2023)par Maggie O'Farrell (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Marriage Portrait par Maggie O'Farrell (2022)
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. 3.5 stars ( ) Lucrezia, third daughter Cosimo de' Medici, finds herself betrothed, then married to Alfonso, heir to the Duke of Ferrara when her older sister, his original choice, dies. The story flits between her early life in Florence and her early married life. Underneath, throughout her marriage, her conviction that she will be killed by her apparently loving husband bubbles away. She's a Duchess now, her father-in-law having died. She's only 15, moe than 10 years younger than her husband. Although she's been brought up privileged, her new status brings with it loneliness and challenges. Virtually her only constant friend is her maid. O'Farrell paints the pictures of her privileged life in such a way that we can hear, see and smell the scenes that surround her: her father's exotic menagerie; her husband's castrati singers; the sumptuous clothing; the simple bowls of fruit which she examines with her painterly eye - she is a talented artist. This tale is a mixture of fact, of weaving in allusions learnt from Browning's poem My Last Duchess, from myth and fairytale and from gothic horror to create an engaging and highly pictorial story, which goes a long way towards helping us understand what it might have been to be Lucrezia: child, noblewoman, wife. I read this novel while we were in Florence and so that may have affected how much I enjoyed it. By day I was wandering around the city and then meeting in my head again in the evening. This is set in 16th century Florence and based on the life of a real young woman, although little is known about her. Young Lucrezia, due to the death of her sister, is promised in marriage to Alfonso, a wealthy ruler. The Lucrezia Maggie O'Farrell chooses to show us is an artist, intelligent and energetic. Her parent's do not listen to Lucrezia's objections to the marriage by their difficult daughter. Alfonso is only interested in producing heirs and as Lucrezia's mother had been so productive he thought this would be an equally productive union. Maggie O'Farrell sets up a tense story, moving back and forth in time as Lucrezia sees the two faces of Alfonso, his kindness and his brutality and comes to understand the man she has married. The beauty and art of Renaissance Italy are in these pages, as well as darkness and cruelty. Lucrezia is well-drawn and I was so glad Maggie O'Farrell gave her the ending she did. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess's future hangs entirely in the balance. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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