The Vatican Princess
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4.2 • 9 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Infamy is no accident. It is a poison in our blood. It is the price of being a Borgia.
Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias became Italy's most ruthless and powerful family, electrifying and terrorizing their 15th-century Renaissance world. To this day, Lucrezia Borgia, the Pope's beautiful daughter, is known as one of history's most notorious villainesses, accused of incest and luring men to doom with her arsenal of poison. Was she the heartless seductress of legend? Or was she an unsuspecting pawn in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and her own survival?
From her pampered childhood in the palaces of Rome to her ill-fated, scandalous marriages and complex relationship with her adored father and her brothers, this is the dramatic, untold story of a papal princess whose courage led her to overcome the fate imposed on her by her Borgia blood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest from historical novelist Gortner (after Mademoiselle Chanel) is a lurid, old-school story that revolves around Lucrezia Borgia, the doted-upon illegitimate daughter of the notoriously corrupt Rodrigo Borgia, who was Pope Alexander VI. As she grows into her teen years, Lucrezia becomes a pawn in her family's political schemes. After being married off to a near-penniless man who seems more drawn to her vicious eldest brother, Juan, Lucrezia finds herself lusting after both her brother Cesare a reluctant cardinal with ambitions beyond the church and her sister-in-law's brother, Alfonso, with whom she shares an interest in books. Family dastardliness and intrigue soon turn Lucrezia's life upside down, as she becomes pregnant and tries to have her loveless marriage dissolved after several violent incidents. Gortner's book features several anachronisms for the late 1400s, such as the protagonist's sympathy for exiled Jews, but the narrative is also unapologetically pulpy and titillating. Ultimately, Lucrezia is pitted against the men of her powerful family, who expect her loyalty in the face of their ruthlessness. Cesare tries to win his father's love as he sets about conquering land and crushing Borgia's enemies, and everyone becomes a bit paranoid. Gortner's story makes for an engaging tale.
