The Marchesa

From the acclaimed author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan comes a vibrant exploration of the Italian Renaissance through the character of Isabella d’Este, the first female art collector and patron of her time. Her famed collection has long since dispersed or been lost, but what remains is her correspondence – thousands of letters preserved in a deconsecrated church and convent in the archive of Mantua.

‘For the longest time after my death, those who claimed an interest in history showed little interest in me. Or indeed women like me. Nor did they seem to care much about the wonder of our city states: Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino. We may never have been as grand or powerful as Venice or Rome or Florence but our great age – this thing that is now so valued and trumpeted as the Renaissance – would have been a much lesser affair without us.’

The Marchesa is Renaissance history at its most vivid, an immersive, multi-layered experience that mixes historical fiction with biography, scholarship and imagery, of both the people and the time. It is also a meditation on our attitude to history itself, challenging how far we can set aside our own values and certainties when it comes to understanding those who grew out of very different cultural soil.

‘An utterly fascinating portrayal of a formidable and brilliant woman wielding power in the complex turmoil of the political landscape of Renaissance Italy – a woman who is irrepressible even in death.’ Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Hera

‘What distinguishes and elevates to the first order Sarah Dunant's series of five novels set in Renaissance Italy is that she combines flawless historical scholarship with beguiling storytelling.’ Guardian

‘Dunant makes the art and philosophy of the period look new and dangerous again.’ The Times

‘Dunant has made completely her own the story of the Italy‘s most infamous ruling family ... in a way that we can see, hear and smell.’ Guardian

‘Dunant has a storyteller‘s instincts for thrilling detail and the broad sweep of history. This, and her glorious prose, make Dunant's version irresistible.’ The Times

Sarah Dunant studied history at Newnham College, Cambridge from where she went on to become a writer, broadcaster, teacher and critic. She has written twelve novels, four of which have been short-listed for awards, and edited two books of essays. She worked for many years for the BBC in radio and television including BBC 2 TV’s arts programme, ‘The Late Show’ and Radio 3’s ‘Nightwaves’. More recently she wrote and presented a monthly history show for Radio 4, ‘When Greeks Flew Kites’ and is a regular contributor to ‘A Point of View’. She also featured as an expert in the BBC2 ‘Renaissance: the Blood and the Beauty’ drama-documentary series which broadcast in December 2024. She is an accredited lecturer with The Arts Society, lecturing on Italian history and renaissance art, has taught renaissance studies at Washington University, St Louis and creative writing at University of Oxford Brookes, from where she was awarded an honorary doctorate for her services to higher education and literature. Her most recent five novels, set within the Italian renaissance, weave cutting edge historical scholarship into fiction, have become international bestsellers and have been translated into thirty languages.

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