Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities. But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art. The Birth of Venus is a tour de force, the first historical novel from one of Britain’s most innovative writers of literary suspense. It brings alive the history of Florence at its most dramatic period, telling a compulsively absorbing story of love, art, religion, and power through the passionate voice of Alessandra, a heroine with the same vibrancy of spirit as her beloved city.
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"I really enjoyed this book. The narrator (and main character) was so well-developed and I loved her views and her personality. The time in which the story takes place is near and dear to my heart as an art history student of the Italian Renaissance, and I have to say her history was quite accurate and did not distract me from Alessandra's own story, which I loved (as fact and fiction are not easy to blend!). It was also beautifully and poetically written in a way which did not bog me down with adverbs or slow down the story with lengthy sentences. Overall, a great (and quick) read!"
— Arielle (4 out of 5 stars)
" I had recently read the Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi and was floored to realize that this book seemed to be a copy! This book was not nearly as well written tet sold far more copies. A sad reality. "
— Atty, 1/23/2014" This was a fabulous book that I enjoyed immensely. Great characters, fascinating period and a story that kept you turning the pages. From the very beginning I was hooked and found myself pondering on the story even when I wasn't reading it. Surely, the sign of an excellent book? "
— Penelope, 1/10/2014" One of my all-time favorites "
— Lynn, 1/5/2014" The prologue offered such promise, but the book never fulfilled that promise. I never really felt like I got into it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. Maybe a second read will improve it. "
— Leah, 1/3/2014" I sort of enjoyed this book. most of it was a little too fanciful though and unlike other books, didn't keep me wanting to read it. "
— Gemma, 12/25/2013" Found this book difficult to get through, though I did enjoy the references to Renaissance Florence. "
— Marcia, 12/20/2013" Loved this...great historical fiction about the art world of old. "
— courtney, 12/17/2013" Art, history, love....my kind of novel! "
— Eliza, 12/15/2013" I enjoyed the storyline of this book and that it is based in Italy. "
— Vicki, 12/7/2013" What's not to love? Florence, Savonarola....my kind of book. "
— Darcy, 11/25/2013" maybe I missed something, I remember this was THE book club book a few years ago... ugh "
— Babcock, 11/17/2013Sarah Dunant is the author of the international bestsellers The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan, Sacred Hearts, and Blood and Beauty, which have received major acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Her earlier novels include three Hannah Wolfe crime thrillers, as well as Snowstorms in a Hot Climate, Transgressions, and Mapping the Edge.
Jenny Sterlin, winner of several Earphones Awards, has more than ninety audio titles to her credit, including Laurie R. King’s popular Sherlock Holmes / Mary Russell series. Before beginning her narration career, she helped found England’s experimental Living Theatre.