The Birth of Venus by Sarah DunantMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book kept my attention all the way through with much intrigue (a serial killer in 1400's Florence + twisty plotting about church/state fighting)plus romance and education (in a nice way) about the Masters and art in general. I would not say that this book is for people who love romances, or people who love art, or people who are interested in church/state squabbles of various centuries. Instead, I would recommend it to everyone. I felt the author blended it all so well into a story that I wanted to read! There were good guys and very bad villain types, and the main character is flawed in such a way that she seems real and we root for her. She is an emancipated woman, of a sort, in a time where those types of females were frowned upon.
What does this writer do that others don't? She paints such a real scene, such real "people," and such a clear picture of the time period, that you know she is not just a fiction writer but also an historian. I've read books by such authors before that were dry, that were over-historical/research so obvious I felt it stopped the story (ala Da Vinci Code)but this author deserves accolades because she is a true storyteller. I loved feeling I was there, in that century, in her main character's dresses, feeling her love for her artist, and her pain as she grows up and learns that life hurts even the strongest deeply at times.
Read it! You won't be disappointed. : )
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