We are now into our second month reading our new list of nine books. This month’s selection is The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. O’Farrell is an Irish author of several award-winning novels, her most recent (prior to this) being Hamnet. I recalled that we read Hamnet in the book club last October! Funny how these coincidences happen—it was certainly not planned. While Hamnet was set in Shakespearean times and dealt with his son, The Marriage Portrait is set in the Italian Renaissance and deals with the “third daughter” of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.
As the story goes, Lucrezia, the daughter of Cosimo de Medici is suddenly married off to Alfonso d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara at the age of 15, and a year later she is dead! Several critics have stated in various different words that the author “has shuffled historical fact, portraiture and poetic fantasy together and used them as the basis for a piece of fiction in which a simple tale, of a girl forced too young into a dynastic marriage, is overlaid and embellished with elements from fairytale and myth.” (The Guardian). We will see what the book club members think of this.
If you are thinking of joining a book club, we would love to hear from you. We have three groups all reading the same book at the same time each month. Two groups meet the fourth Thursday afternoon of the month (contact Steve & Ann Morris at samwrsi@cox.net) and the other group meets the fourth Monday afternoon of the month, contact Frances at fozimed@cox.net. All groups meet at the Clubhouse.
—Frances Ozimec
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