Introduction

A rich, compelling historical novel-and a mystery of royal intrigue.

In a city-state known for magnificence, where love affairs and conspiracies play out amidst brilliant painters, poets and musicians, the powerful and ambitious Alfonso d'Este, duke of Ferrara, takes a new bride. Half of Europe is certain he murdered his first wife, Lucrezia, the luminous child of the Medici. But no one dares accuse him, and no one has proof-least of all his second duchess, the far less beautiful but delightfully clever Barbara of Austria.

At first determined to ignore the rumors about her new husband, Barbara embraces the pleasures of the Ferrarese court. Yet wherever she turns she hears whispers of the first duchess's wayward life and mysterious death. Barbara asks questions-a dangerous mistake for a duchess of Ferrara. Suddenly, to save her own life, Barbara has no choice but to risk the duke's terrifying displeasure and discover the truth of Lucrezia's death-or she will share her fate.

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Ferrara
5 December 1565

“He murdered his first duchess with his own hands, they say,” the Ferrarese hairdressing-woman whispered as she braided a string of pearls into my hair. “She was so young, so beautiful.”
And I, Barbara of Austria, neither young nor beautiful, would be the duke’s second duchess before the pale December sun set. What did the woman expect me to do, shriek and fall down in a faint? Jump up and swear I would not marry the Duke of Ferrara after all, but return straightaway to Innsbruck with my household and dowry and bride-goods down to the last box of silver pins? For all practical purposes I was married already, the contracts signed, the marriage-by-proxy performed. And truth be told, half-a-hundred people had already told me Alfonso d’Este had murdered his first wife. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. Barbara is portrayed as a woman of her time, who must submit to her powerful husband. Nevertheless, she sometimes defies him, and she manages to retain a sense of her own identity and ultimately forges a satisfying marriage with Alfonso. How do you think she manages to do this? How risky are her choices?

2. How do you see Alfonso—as the Renaissance ideal of a prince and a man; as a megalomaniac and murderer; or perhaps as comparable to a modern man of power, wealth, and position? Do you find him attractive or repellent?

3. Lucrezia de’ Medici’s personality is strongly influenced by Isabella, her older sister. How might this compare with the sexualization of very young girls today?

4. Were you familiar with Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” before reading this novel? How is it similar to the novel? How has the novel reinterpreted the poem?

5. Barbara is portrayed as having been inspired by Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier. Were you strongly influenced and shaped by a book you read while growing up? What book, and what ideas and assumptions in it became part of you?

6. At the end of the novel, Alfonso destroys every drawing and painting by Frà Pandolf, despite the great esteem in which Alfonso holds brilliant artists and their work. Would you have done the same thing? Or does the worth of great art transcend the behavior, moral or immoral, of its human creator?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Elizabeth Loupas' web site

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.

Member Reviews

There are no user reviews at this time.
Rate this book