The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times Bestseller, Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

Product Information

Bowen was herself only 16 when she wrote The Viper: in 1906 it was repeatedly turned down by publishers shocked that such a young female author should be drawn to matters so unladylike. It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society. Favourites included Violet Needham (The Woods of Windri), Margaret Irwin (Royal Flush), and – most pertinently here, in terms of subject matter – Marjorie Bowen’s darkly gorgeous The Viper of Milan, much admired by Graham Greene.

The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times - WHSmith The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times - WHSmith

Short chapters recounting the events of the following hours alternate with much longer ones giving us the backstory from her childhood onwards. I suspect O'Farrell had to make some tough creative decisions to spin a tale out of such thin cloth in terms of actual history. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. I have no problem understanding that people from different times behaved very differently from our current society and I am an avid reader of historical fiction because I love learning about different times and cultures. In 1558, Lucrezia, daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici, was married to Alfonso d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara.The ending did come as a surprise, even if it wasn't entirely realistic, but nice to imagine a kinder fate for that young woman. Horror stains the narrative, introduced by dreams and fantasies, and by the terrible screams Lucrezia hears one night, coming from her husband’s room in a battlemented tower of Ferrara’s grim castle. Little is known about Lucrezia de’Medici, married at 15 to the Duke of Ferrara, besides her suspicious death; rumors that she was poisoned prompted Robert Browning’s famous poem “My Last Duchess.

The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times Bestseller The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times Bestseller

I loved Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet so when her latest book was published, I was anxious to read it. Overall I enjoyed this book, even though the subject made it difficult at times, and am curious to see if this style of writing will continue in O'Farrell's next book. What kind of parents silence a young child who has artistic talent and a curious mind, ignore her choices, and send her to a prison of sorts in a marriage that she doesn't understand or want?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. A dress speaks a “glossolalia all of its own”, rustling and creaking, becoming an orchestra, or the rigging of a ship. Finally, she knows her life is in danger, and the only one who can help her is an assistant painter working on her marriage portrait. Lawbreakers can sometimes avoid prison by joining the army, which ties into the dramatic set piece of this lengthy novel. The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.