Description
Book SynopsisInfamy 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.
Trade ReviewGortner's novel is one of character: Borgia pater, of course, but also Lucrezia, intelligent and poised...a sympathetic character, conversant in literature and philosophy, with every Borgia evil laid at the feet of her father, ambitious and calculating, or Cesare, a brilliant and amoral psychopath with a lifelong near-incestuous love for his sister.
In a literary exploration riven with Shakespearean quantities of murder, lies, deceptions, and treachery, Gortner's narrative gains veracity with his atmospheric exploration of fashion, architecture, and art on the stage of 'loud, filthy, and dangerous' Rome. Gortner has imagined Lucrezia Borgia's life from a feminist perspective. * Kirkus *
This unholy plunge into Rome's darkest dynasty is wholly engrossing. * Allison Pataki: author of Sisi: Empress on Her Own *
Disturbing royal secrets and court manipulations wickedly twist this enthralling story, brilliantly told. *
Publishers Weekly on
The Last Queen *
Compelling... a riveting blend of passion, power and betrayal. *
Inside Soap on
The Last Queen *
The world of Renaissance Italy is vividly brought to life - I'm captivated by this knowledgeable author's take on the controversial Borgias. * Alison Weir *
