The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

In the fall, my friend Jennifer handed me this book and said "I want you to read this so we can talk about it." This is my favorite kind of challenge, and it never gets old. I accepted "The Marriage Portrait," a hard cover book with its beautiful and haunting cover, and got to reading. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but give me a novel about a messy marriage and I'm there. O'Farrell, the author of the award-winning "Hamnet," turns her eye, this time, onto the world of Renaissance Italy. We meet the 16-year-old duchess Lucrezia de' Medici in her home in 1550's Florence. As the third daughter of the grand duke, the family's attention is not on her, and she is free to wander around the palace and live an artistic life under the radar. But everything changes for Lucrezia when her older sister dies after being betrothed to another duke, the ruler of Ferrrara, Modena, and Reggio. His name is Alonso and Lucrezia now must take her sister's place at the alter with him. Alonso seems to be a fan of the arts and music, much like Lucrezia, but the more she gets to know him, the more she doubts his honesty and motives. Other members of his family and the palace further confuse her. Who can she trust, and who wants her gone? One thing is clear: Lucrezia's job, despite her young age, is to produce an heir to protect the future of both her family and Alonso's. Based on real life characters, "The Marriage Portrait" is a well-written deep dive into the arranged marriages and secrets passages during the Italian Renaissance. To buy this book on Amazon click here.