The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

In Renaissance Florence, sixteen-year-old Lucrezia de’ Medici is the unconventional daughter of the powerful Medici family, more comfortable observing the world and creating art than preparing for life at court. But after the death of her older sister, Lucrezia is unexpectedly married to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, and sent away from everything she knows.

Inside her new husband’s glittering and increasingly dangerous court, Lucrezia is expected to fulfill one essential duty: produce an heir. As she begins to understand both her husband and the precariousness of her own position, she must find a way to preserve her independence, her creativity, and ultimately herself.

Rich with art, palazzos, political intrigue, and the atmosphere of sixteenth-century Italy, The Marriage Portrait is an immersive historical novel about power, marriage, and a young woman refusing to disappear inside the role chosen for her.