Maggie O'Farrell The Marriage Portrait 2022 Tinder Press 2022

Synopsis

<p><b>Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023</b><br> <b>A Reese's Bookclub December Pick (2022)</b><br> <b>An Instant <i>Sunday Times</i>, <i>New York Times</i> and <i>Irish Times</i> Bestseller (August 2022)</b><br> <b>A <i>Guardian</i> and LitHub Book of the Year (December 2022)</b><br> <br> <b>'Every bit as evocative and spellbinding as <i>Hamnet</i>. O'Farrell, thank God, just seems to be getting better and better' <i>i newspaper</i><br> <br></b><b>'Her narrative enchantment will wrest suspense and surprise out of a death foretold' <i>Financial Times</i></b><br> <b><br> 'Ingenious, inventive, humane, wry, truthful . . . better than her last novel' <i>Scotsman</i></b><br> <b><br> 'Finely written and vividly imagined' <i>Guardian</i></b><br> <b><br> 'In O'Farrell's hands, historical detail comes alive' <i>Spectator</i></b><br> <br> Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her.<br> <br> Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence's grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband.<br> <br> What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival.<br> <br> <i>The Marriage Portrait</i> is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.</p>