A brilliant fictionalized account of the Congress of Venice, richly imagining the life of orphan Giulia after she was exploited for the purpose of the Italian crown in the early 1600s. Mezzacappas epistolary novel is written from Giulias point of view as a letter to her mother, where she recounts not only the heartbreaking events surrounding the loss of her innocence to the Prince, but the unexpected happiness she finds in her life with her promised husband, Guliano. The humiliation, confusion and fear Giulia experiences is heartbreaking, and I couldn't help but become invested in her story. Her struggle to find a place that was hers where she felt safe and loved, after such misuse and indifferent treatment, was her own act of defiance in a time when a woman's worth was dependent on their usefulness to men. This is a beautiful story of a woman's resilience and quiet strength.

Reading the preview and the cover I was really looking forward to reading this book. I have read a number of books about the plotting and intrigue in Florence in the Medici era. However, I could not get into this book , I found it quite tedious and really disliked it being written in the first person. Disappointing .

Anyone who knows me will know just how picky I am when it comes to historical fiction, more so when it comes to historical fiction that concerns the Italian Renaissance. There is so much out there that is just wrong...sorry, I'll get off my soap box now. There was something about 'The Maiden of Florence' by Katherine Mezzacappa that drew me to it - perhaps it was the fact that Florence feels like home to me, or perhaps it was that stunning front cover. Or both. Both is good.


'The Maiden of Florence' tells the story of Giulia, a young orphan from the Pieta orphanage. Her life there is rough, almost prison like, and she is resigned to living a life in the convent. After all, there is no life out there for an orphan. That is until strangers show up at the orphanage. They promise her freedom and a husband - all she has to do is agree to a mission that is of great importance to Florence. She isn't told exactly what this mission is, but it soon becomes clear to the reader that she is meant to sleep with a prince who is to marry into the Medici family. Rumours abound that this prince cannot perform his sexual duties and to Giulia must help put an end to this gossip.


As the tale progresses the reader becomes acutely aware of the Giulia's confusion and revulsion as she is put through test after test to make sure she is worthy, her hatred of the man who has orchestrated the whole thing and her desperate desire to be loved. She falls for the prince she is essentially pimped out to only to have her heart broken, she is forced to endure her child being taken from her and whilst she finds some solace in the man who is found to be her husband as well as her children. She must still face the constant threat of Vinta - the one who forced her into bed with the prince and then forced himself on her afterwards - and the ongoing trauma that she must deal with. Despite all of this though she does live a happy and fulfilled life, showing that there is sunshine after a storm.


Mezzacappa tells this story, perhaps unusually, in the first person. There aren't many that can write a story that grips you using this tense and Mezzacappa does so masterfully. The prose flows nicely. allowing the reader to be fully immersed in the hustle of Florence and the twisting alleyways of Florence. More so it brings with it an incredible amount of emotion - there were times I felt Giulia's repulsion and her heartache. It's been a long time since I have felt this way whilst reading a novel.


This book is so incredibly well done and no matter how hard I try, I can't find any fault with it. Mezzacappa has created something wonderful here, and I urge anyone with an interest in historical fiction or Renaissance Italy to read it. You won't be disappointed.


5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for the ARC.

Unfortunately this book was not my cup of tea at all, and I think the comparison to “The Marriage Portrait” is ambitious, dare I say a little deluded. The writing left a lot to be desired and felt quite juvenile. And the main character, Giulia, is incredibly boring, but this fits with an even more boring plot. Great, a woman who cries her way through her own story. I think this could have been a short story or novella. And I also didn’t understand why the perspectives kept flip-flopping; I thought this story was Giulia’s letter to her mother. Why are we also getting Giuliano’s first-person narrative too? None of the creative decisions added anything here to the story. Overall an unfortunate snoozefest.

Guila is a beautiful young orphan girl who fully expects to spend the rest of her live living in the convent where she was taken shortly after her birth. When she is about ten, she is taken to another convent where she is trained to be a silk weaver. Guila accepts that this is probably the way she will spend the rest of her life, weaving and closed off from the outside world. One day, an advisor for the Medici family comes to the convent looking for a beautiful virgin, who, in exchange for a generous dowry and a respectable husband, will be used as a test for the heir to the dukedom of Mantua, in order to prove that he can perform for his future wife and her powerful father. Guila agrees, mostly because she isn't given a choice. This sets a series of events in motion that leads to Guila's most interesting life. This novel is mostly in Guila's voice, but it also contains a section in the voice of her husband. There are several difficult scenes that can be traumatizing, but overall a well-crafted novel

I liked the overall story and felt that Giulia's personality was well developed. The contrast between the woman we meet and the woman Guiliano describes is also interesting. However, I felt there were multiple occasions where more explanation could have been useful (i.e. just referring to various Grand Princes by their title rather than their names was confusing).

I think this book has a graet plot idea and works good in theory but the writing could've been better.
I like that it's a historical novel based on true events and that the author did her research but I struggled with the pacing (it's very slow, especially in the beginning) and sometimes the writing style seemed overly complicated. Overall I enjoyed the story, it just took me forever to read.

this was . . . fine. i do think the influence of maggie o’farrell’s the marriage portrait hangs a little too much over this one, and i couldn’t help but compare the two of them in the end. it was still pleasant enough, though.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘
𝗕𝘆
𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘇𝘇𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮

REVIEW :

📖 The text is a little slow at first, but the explanations get clearer as the storyline progresses. The tone is conveyed well, and difficult,triggering themes are dealt with appropriately.
📖 I did not expect the husband's POV too. It was a pleasant surprise, and added more layers to the storyline.
📖 The POV change right when Giulia was about to be married ( something she had been wishing for ardently ) seemed poignantly significant.
However, I felt that Giuliano's acceptance of her was a tad bit too swift. Perhaps a bit more lingering on his dilemmas and feelings would have been suitable, especially with the fact that he restored two of his wife's most precious memories to her, out of his own novelty.
📖 The mention of the funeral candles hit me like a truck. The delivery of the tragedy was incredibly powerful and suitably depressing, I almost cried.
The constant comparisons Giuliano mentally entertained, regarding 'The Prince's son who lived' and his own daughter who wasn't granted that privilege, was very well executed.
📖 There is a certain air in Katherine's writing that carries the tone of the era quite well. Not everyone will be used to it, but for fans of those times, it is undoubtedly a most enjoyable experience.
📖 The ardent love between Giulia and her husband was a comforting presence in a story otherwise marred by tragedy and torture. It was an optimistic ray of light in the dystopian darkness of the tale.
📖 Ending with the closure from her mother's side was a good idea. Overall, the narration is beautiful, and the story zeroes in on a forgotten character of the history books, one of the many women who deserve to be known. It was a mesmerizingly educational experience.

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I look forward to reading historical novels based on true events that have been meticulously researched: and this is one of those books. Some scenes may be distressing to read, the writing style is often difficult, but if a reader perseveres with this one, then this is a rich account of a true historical event, and one which I am glad I learnt about from reading this book.
It wasn’t a book that I could sit down with and read quickly and felt it is better little and often, as I would read a non fiction book, but I would recommend for readers that enjoy detailed, well researched books of this genre. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advance review copy and please add to Good Reads so that I can post my review there too.

This was a lovely novel - Mezzacappa's prose was enjoyable all the way through, and our protagonist Giulia became vibrant and engaging as we learn more about her life and struggles throughout the text. For fans of Medici history, or just historical fiction in general, I think this text would be a great choice. I wouldn't assign this full text for a course, but might include a few chapters in a literature or a history course.

Rounding 4.5 to 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

In a long letter to the mother she never knew, Giulia is looking back on her life in northern Italy in the late 16th century. She grew up in two orphanages and manages to 'escape' by reluctantly agreeing to help a Medici prince prove he is capable of deflowering a virgin.

That and the aftermath destroy her, and even though her reward is freedom, a dowry and a husband, she has to navigate her way through life with the knowledge and the consequences of having been abused. On top of that, the minister of the de Medici's draws her under his control for the rest of his life.

The first person narrative is what makes this story compelling. Giulia may be a bit older, but she is still searching for answers. Her thoughts are still her own and that’s why she is such a strong character.

I also like the atmosphere Mezzacappa creates. Giulia is living her life with Giuliano and the kids. However darkness is looming everywhere and fate strikes at regular intervals. Yet she fights back time and time again. She is a fighter and a survivor till the bitter end. Maybe I had expected even more bouts of bad luck in the beginning of the book, but there are more than enough things happening to keep the story going.

There are a lot of explicit scenes but the story needs those to show that women were often were nothing more than objects that could be traded. It didn’t disturb me as it quite often does.

I loved reading this book. I was hooked from the start and it gives you a nice view of what living in Italy in the 16th century could have been like when you were dealt bad cards.

Thank you NetGalley and Fairlight Books for this ARC!

I really (REALLY) wanted to love The Maiden of Florence by Katherine Mezzacappa, but just didn't The story of Guilia Albizzi is haunting and while the author is descriptive about what happens to Guilia, she's over descriptive to the point of brutal. For a book that's supposed to be first person point of view, it goes off a lot into third person and describes the humiliation and brutality she endured.

That seems to be the overwhelming theme of the entire book. I finished it because I said I would, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for giving me the opportunity to read it

This haunting historical novel is both tender and terrifying. The abuse of power by the political and ruling class is chillingly portrayed in this compelling story.

The villains are breathtakingly evil, and our heroine is both tender and pragmatic. I found parts of the book difficult to read because of its brutality, but it was a compelling tale, documented by the authorvas favtually based.

I seek out historical novels for tge escape, but also to learn about different periods and people. This was an eye-opener in many ways.

I was excited to read this but just didn't find it interesting. The narration was a bit odd and felt all over the place. It was really hard to keep track of details and characters. One thing I like about historical fiction is feeling like I've been transported to the time and location of the story. This book missed the mark on that.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for advance access to this digital copy.

Unfortunately, this book fell very flat for me. I dnfed after I was halfway through because the narrative simply did not hold up farther than the author describing the events surrounding Giulia Albizzi rather than breathing life into what could be a very compelling story. The author uses Giulia’s point of view to tell the story, but much of the story is left limited to what is done to Giulia rather than breathing any sort of humanity into this character. More than that though, because Giulia has limited life experience outside of her sheltered existence, readers are left out of the wider context of what was happening politically that lead to the book’s circumstances. A third person omniscient POV would have removed these narrative boundaries which instead cause readers to have everything explained at them in the way that feels like a rushed plot dump. I likely would not recommend this book. 1/5

A big disappointment! Although the novel started well with interesting descriptions of life in orphenage, the tone abruptly changed. About a third of the book is dedicated to the intimate humiliation of Giula's body. I felt like a voyeur (I skipped many passages as I could not stand it any longer): the overdetailed descriptions of intimate examinations again and again, the sexual acts endured by this poor girl were not necessary in this detailed and repetitive form. The rest of the novel did not appeal to me at all as I lost total interest in the storyline and characters. I finished the book though only because I wanted to write an honest review. It did not matter who was narrating in each chapter (different narrator for each chapter). I was always wondering what was the aim of it at all .
I received a digital copy of the novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.