The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Reviewed by Daisy Young
Set in the palazzos of Renaissance Italy, O’Farrell’s story focuses on the life and untimely death of Lucrezia de Medici, first wife to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, who died aged sixteen. Or was she murdered?
The plot starts on the eve of Lucz’s death and flicks between her oppressive present and innocent past. O’Farrell exposes the reader to the isolation Lucrezia faces in her childhood, separated from her siblings due to her artistic brilliance and genius. She fails to be understood by her parents and is expected to be submissive to her husband – whose personality changes on a whim. Through this isolation, Lucz finds comfort and companionship in servants and nursemaids, like the firm but tender-hearted Sofia and her milk-sister Emilia. These characters are the ones who truly have her best interests at heart but because of their positions, hold little sway in the fate set out for the young duchess.
Lucrezia is a character to be both admired and pitied. Her innocence is the foil to her keen perceptions about people. From their first interaction, she is sceptical about Alfonso but dismisses her doubts after he sends her a portrait as an engagement present. However, these feelings return the more exposed Lucz becomes to Alfonso’s temperament, eventually reaching a climax when she realises his intentions to murder her.
O’Farrell’s writing is meticulous and haunting. We are in the room with Lucrezia as she feels the poison taking hold. We are in her mind as she desperately tries to figure out an escape from her apparent destiny. Obviously, O’Farrell has taken some liberties with the plot (little is truly known about the real Lucrezia) but that does not take away from the dread we feel at the sense of inevitability and urgency painted into this story.
“He says again that he will not hurt her, she must not be scared, he will not hurt her, he will not, he promises… And then he hurts her anyway.”
Many themes are covered in this story: the role of women, violence, marriage, etc. For me, the outstanding one is duplicity. Her family claims to care for her, but they do not. Alfonso claims to love her, but he does not. Even the marriage portrait itself is duplicitous in its nature – commissioned to immortalise Lucrezia’s beauty for all to see and to mark the start of a happy marriage. Yet, by the end of the book, it is hidden from the world and immortalises Alfonso’s almost fetishised version of Lucrezia and his power over her – not the person the reader knows her to be.
Overall, this is another brilliant book by O’Farrell, full of suspense and unexpected plot twists. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a powerful piece of historical fiction.
Beautiful News by David McCandless
Reviewed by Marisha Puk
I would describe Beautiful News by David McCandless as a factual picture book for adults, in the best way possible. Of course, there are words, but the book is mostly filled with graphs, charts and tables of beautiful news across health, the climate, money and more.
The premise of this book is to counter the negative data we are overloaded with each day and focus on the data that shows how much improvement we are seeing across the world. And on this premise, McCandless delivers in strides.
Whether you want to learn about which fashion brands are no longer using fur, the benefits and effects of switching to electric cars, renewable energy, vaccines, decreases in food waste, life expectancy, resolving the use of plastics, land preservation and more, this book covers so much data that you’ll be overloaded with positivity rather than negativity.
This book is especially great for those who love to learn visually, as the infographics are stunning and informative. They make it incredibly easy to absorb the knowledge held in the data. This is the third book from McCandless in which he creates incredible illustrations. His other books Information is Beautiful and Knowledge is Beautiful are also great reads and bestsellers in their own right.
Overall, I loved reading this book as it felt like a break from the norm. It is filled with positivity and it shows that although sometimes it feels like we are getting nowhere, mankind has been making huge progress. This positivity is unabashed and unrivalled, so I seriously recommend you get a copy.