The Marriage Portrait The Marriage Portrait

The Marriage Portrait

A novel

    • 4.1 • 871 Ratings
    • $12.99
    • $12.99

Publisher Description

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The author of award-winning Hamnet brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life in this unforgettable fictional portrait of the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de' Medici as she makes her way in a troubled court.

“I could not stop reading this incredible true story.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club Pick)


"O’Farrell pulls out little threads of historical detail to weave this story of a precocious girl sensitive to the contradictions of her station...You may know the history, and you may think you know what’s coming, but don’t be so sure."The Washington Post

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 devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, 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 enter an unfamiliar 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.
 
Full of the beauty and emotion with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell turns her talents to Renaissance Italy in an extraordinary portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2022
September 6
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
352
Pages
PUBLISHER
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
6
MB

Customer Reviews

Marzipan24 ,

Still good work

I love Maggie O’Farrell and have read all her fictional work. Giving the “end” at the beginning made me apprehensive throughout the story and slow my reading down very much because I loved the main character so much. But in the end I still appreciate O’Farrell’s writing and wound up liking the end.

Potzzy ,

Odd

Hard to follow sometimes….

Katycometrue1 ,

Hauntingly beautiful characters and delicious language

Lucrezia’s character will stay with me for a long time. She is so well-drawn — bold for her time, but perfectly believable in her motivations and actions. Even when I knew her fate, I hoped against hope that she would find a path to freedom. Truly one of the most powerful reads.

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2020
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