The Birth of Venus: A Novel
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
"Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities.
But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art."
Picked this up in the clearance section of Half Price Books. What a steal! I have another copy on Mt. TBR, so may see if there's interest in a bookray for this one.
7/19/09 -- I've had several of Dunant's on my shelves for quite some time now, but this is the first I've actually found time to delve into. I loved the beginning of the novel: upon the death of a nun, her convent sisters discover a very detailed tattoo of a snake, with its tail beginning up across her shoulder & its body gradually winding across her chest & leading down to...well, you can probably guess -- where, instead of a snake's head, the head of a man resides. A very gripping and eye-opening beginning to a story.
From there, the story goes back in time to retrace the nun's history. The pace of the novel is a bit slower now, but still intriguing nonetheless. A few minor plot twists are thrown in along the way, and the reader is anxious to know how the main character of Alessandra evolves into the nun at the beginning of the story. I must admit I was doubtful as to the credibility of how Dunant was going to bring this full circle, but I was quite pleased by how she did end up doing so.
But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art."
Picked this up in the clearance section of Half Price Books. What a steal! I have another copy on Mt. TBR, so may see if there's interest in a bookray for this one.
7/19/09 -- I've had several of Dunant's on my shelves for quite some time now, but this is the first I've actually found time to delve into. I loved the beginning of the novel: upon the death of a nun, her convent sisters discover a very detailed tattoo of a snake, with its tail beginning up across her shoulder & its body gradually winding across her chest & leading down to...well, you can probably guess -- where, instead of a snake's head, the head of a man resides. A very gripping and eye-opening beginning to a story.
From there, the story goes back in time to retrace the nun's history. The pace of the novel is a bit slower now, but still intriguing nonetheless. A few minor plot twists are thrown in along the way, and the reader is anxious to know how the main character of Alessandra evolves into the nun at the beginning of the story. I must admit I was doubtful as to the credibility of how Dunant was going to bring this full circle, but I was quite pleased by how she did end up doing so.
Shipping tomorrow (surface mail) to Makita21 via BookRelay. Enjoy! :')
Journal Entry 4 by rem_NXS-581865 at ABC2007 in 2014 - Melbourne, Australia, BookCrossing Convention -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, September 25, 2007
RELEASE NOTES:
culling through all my TBR's as i will have to fit all my possessions into a caravan soon (YAY),sadly never got around to reading this book.
culling through all my TBR's as i will have to fit all my possessions into a caravan soon (YAY),sadly never got around to reading this book.
Journal Entry 5 by rem_NXS-581865 at Somewhere in town in Narrogin, Western Australia Australia on Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Released 16 yrs ago (10/9/2007 UTC) at Somewhere in town in Narrogin, Western Australia Australia
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES: this book was earmarked for release at the annual BCC in Melbourne, sadly i had to cancel my attendance due to ill health, hence its release locally today.
welcome to BookCrossing,so glad you found this book, please make a journal entry and release to book again into the wild once you have finished with it, books just want to be FREE!
