Book Chat Issue #71

An embarrassing admission

Hello reading friends!

We are getting to the pointy end of the year where nerves are sometimes frazzled, so I hope you can find a few minutes to enjoy this newsletter.

Let’s dive in…

What I’ve been reading

I have an embarrassing admission to make. I started reading The Marriage Portrait thinking it was about an entirely different person - Lucrezia Borgia to be precise.

I was enjoying the book, but I kept wondering when she was going to start poisoning people. It soon became obvious that quite the opposite was happening, and it finally dawned on me that Lucrezia de Medici and Lucrezia Borgia were entirely different women.

Who knew there were so many Lucrezia’s scattered throughout history? Not me.

In my defence, I left school at 15 with quite a bit of knowledge about Richard III (weirdly) and a love of reading, but not much else. After working for 15 years and having three children, I went to University as a mature-age student and studied sociology, politics and education, so my knowledge of history remained scant.

As it turns out, The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell is a fictional account of the life of Lucrezia de Medici, Duchess of Ferrara. Born in 1545, she was married to Alfonso II de Este and by all accounts, had a very unhappy life.

Lucrezia Borgia (famous for her political acumen and poisoning people) also lived in Ferrara but was married to Alfonso I de Este (Alfonso II’s grandfather). She died in 1519, so the two Lucrezias would never have met.*

Phew. I was happy when I worked all that out and could relax and enjoy reading the book.

I found it fascinating and easy to read, but also a bit confusing in places because it jumps back and forth in time. This works fine in most cases, but towards the end I got a bit mixed up and found it frustrating. Overall, I loved the writing and especially the details about the way of life, the clothes and customs, not to mention the unlikely but delightful love story. Recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

* In the author notes, Maggie OFarrell says that Alfonso II’s sister was also named Lucrezia, but she changed her name so that readers wouldn’t get confused. Just as well!

Thinking about all the Lucrezia’s reminded me of another book I enjoyed called An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. This is a YA (young adult) novel about a 17-year-old maths whizz called Colin who only dates girls called Katherine. When he gets dumped by the 19th Katherine, his friend Hussan convinces him to go on a road trip. They end up in a town called Gutshot in Tennessee (yes a real place) and get a job recording the stories of the local townspeople. He meets a girl not called Katherine and hijinks ensue. This is a funny and charming book. Perfect if you’re tired of doom and gloom and want something uplifting but not saccharine sweet.

And apparently there’s a movie! Here’s a clip…

What I’ve been cooking

To be honest, not much. It’s been super hot here, so we’ve had salads on rotation accompanied by BBQ chicken from the shop, or eggs, or fish, so I thought I’d do a shout out for your favourite recipes. They can be festive or not, but please make them simple as I’m not a fan of complicated. Just hit reply or pop something in the comments.

I made some chocolate covered strawberries for a Christmas party. They were a bit wonky, but disappeared pretty quickly so they must have been ok.

Book club

New subscribers (hello you) may like to know we have a book club. We meet every three months via the magic of the internet and it’s free.

We are currently reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and will be meeting on January 19th at 10.30am Sydney time.

Just hit reply if you’re interested and I’ll send you a meeting link.

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That’s all for this edition,

Thanks for reading. Keep well and take a little time to look after yourself.

Marg xxx