"Banquets and music, dancing and fashion, loving and loathing-everything is an art in Ferrara," one of the duke's sisters tells Barbara, who must carefully maneuver around the gossip about her predecessor, gossip that the duke has forbidden, as she seeks to establish herself at court. Barbara of Austria, the virgin bride of Alfonso d'Este, the fifth and last Borgia duke of Ferrara, has heard rumors that Alfonso murdered his first wife, but by marrying the duke she has escaped the convent as well as her controlling brother, Maximilian II. Robert Browning's classic poem "My Last Duchess" provides the starting point for Loupas's winning debut set in Renaissance Italy. "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. 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. Barbara asks questions-a dangerous mistake for a duchess of Ferrara. Yet wherever she turns she hears whispers of the first duchess's wayward life and mysterious death.
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.Īt first determined to ignore the rumors about her new husband, Barbara embraces the pleasures of the Ferrarese court. Half of Europe is certain he murdered his first wife, Lucrezia, the luminous child of the Medici. 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. A rich, compelling historical novel-and a mystery of royal intrigue.
0 kommentar(er)
