The Marriage Portrait

Author(s): Maggie O'Farrell

Literature

The breathtaking new novel from the No. 1 bestselling author of Hamnet. Set at the heart of the treacherous political world of the Italian Renaissance, this is the masterful story of a young woman's battle for her very survival, written with all the drama and verve that made HAMNET an international bestseller. 'I thought I had made myself clear. I want something that conveys her majesty, her bloodline. Do you understand? She is no ordinary mortal. Treat her thus.' Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will, wondering at its treasures and observing its clandestine workings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, heir to the Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: Alfonso is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood, 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 husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appears 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 uncomfortable finery for the painting which is 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 Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, her future hangs entirely in the balance.

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Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

"Absolutely loved this book! It was interesting to see what life may have been like for women in the 1560's. So glad I have been born in 1960's. Quite suspenseful in it's own way. I couldn't put it down and not until the very end was the outcome clear. Even that was jubilent and tragic all at once." - Kaye @ Collins Cottesloe

General Fields

  • : 9781472223852
  • : Headline
  • : Tinder Press
  • : 0.3
  • : July 2022
  • : 3.9 Centimeters X 15.8 Centimeters X 23.5 Centimeters
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Maggie O'Farrell
  • : Paperback