As someone who studied Renaissance art and history and has fallen in love with both Florence and Ferrara in my travels, I thoroughly appreciated this fictional immersion into the world of a Medici woman. O’Farrell’s Lucrezia is an admirable protagonist who paints a compelling view of the lonely lives Renaissance women led in their secluded private spaces.

This was a gripping read that lulled in some parts and strayed a little too far from history in others, but overall captured my heart.