‘My defloration was talked about in all the courts of Europe. The Prince boasted of his prowess, even as preparations were being made for his wedding, as boldly as if he had ridden across that causeway with bloodstained sheet tied to his lance.’
1584, Italy: Twenty-year-old Giulia expects she will live and die incarcerated as a silk weaver within the walls of her Florentine orphanage, where she has never so much as glimpsed her own face. This all changes with the visit of the Medici family’s most trusted advisor, promising her a generous dowry and a husband if she agrees to a small sacrifice that will bring honour and glory to her native city.
Vincenzo Gonzaga, libertine heir to the dukedom of Mantua, wants to marry the Grand-Duke of Tuscany’s eldest daughter, but the rumours around his unconsummated first marriage must be
silenced first. Eager for a dynastic alliance that will be a bulwark against the threat of Protestant heresy beyond the Alps, the Pope and his cardinals turn a blind eye to a mortal sin.
A powerful #MeToo story of the Renaissance, based on true events.
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Katherine Mezzacappa is an Irish writer of mainly historical fiction, currently living in Italy. She has published several novels under pen names with publishers Bonnier Zaffre and eXtasy. She works as a manuscript assessor for The Literary Consultancy. Katherine reviews for Historical Novel Society’s quarterly journal and is one of the organisers of the Society’s 2022 UK conference.
In her spare time she volunteers with a used book charity of which she is a founder member.
Giveaway to Win a vintage postcard, early 1900s, of the babies from the façade of the Innocenti orphanage. (Open INT)
My thoughts: based on real events, this follows Guilia, a young woman raised in a Florentine orphanage and chosen to be the virgin offered up to prove the Prince of Mantua’s virility.
Used and abused by cruel men, Guilia finds happiness with the husband found for her by the politician Vinta, a man who has become obsessed with her and who spies on her family.
Writing her memoirs as a letter to the mother she never knew, Guilia’s story is one of tragedy and joy, moving and charming. She’s a true survivor and with her husband and children lives a good, virtuous life, as women of the Renaissance were expected to. But Vinta casts a long shadow and threatens her son, causing her to seek aid from the Grand Duke of Mantua – formerly the Prince she once thought she loved. Her story goes full circle.
Fascinating and filled with the detail of Italian life in the 16th century, as she was raised to weave, Guilia often comments on fabrics and designs.
The situation she is placed in as a young woman is shocking and not in keeping with the religiosity of the age, but since it’s all supposed to be secret, and bloodlines, heirs and wealth were so central to how the city states ran, it isn’t entirely surprising someone came up with this test.
While the real Guilia disappears from the historical record shortly after this, Katherine Mezzacappa brings her and her world vividly to life in this novel.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
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