Notes from Nov 2016 group

The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant –  Discussed on Wed Nov. 2, 2016 at Geneseo Library

                                                                                                                         

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.

This story tells about wealthy Italian Renaissance family daily life from approx. 1492 – 1512.  The family consists of the father, mother, 2 sons, 2 daughters and servants.  Father is a prosperous cloth merchant and travels for business.  His children are well educated, though only his youngest daughter is a good student and artist.  His sons are not interested in the family business.  Story centers on the youngest daughter and her relationships and the local Florence conflicts.  The author did much research to get historical facts.  You learn about Renaissance art, religion, family life, crime, health, and politics.  Book is well written with many twists.  Our group had mixed reviews on this novel.