A Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

Step in off the salty breeze and settle into Renaissance Italy for a while. From the celebrated author of Hamnet comes a novel so vivid you can almost feel the cool marble of a Florentine palazzo beneath your fingertips.

“I could not stop reading this incredible true story.” —Reese Witherspoon

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is happy in her quiet corner of the palazzo—free to wander among its treasures and lose herself in her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, young Lucrezia is thrust into the spotlight and married off to the ruler of Ferrara.

Barely more than a girl, she must now navigate an unfamiliar court, opaque customs, and a mysterious new husband, Alfonso. Is he the charming aesthete she first met? Or something far more dangerous?

As Lucrezia sits for the marriage portrait meant to preserve her image for centuries, one truth becomes chillingly clear: her worth to the court rests on a single duty. And until she fulfills it, her future hangs entirely in the balance.

As The Washington Post put it: “You may know the history, and you may think you know what’s coming, but don’t be so sure.”

Full of the beauty and emotion that made Hamnet unforgettable, this is a story of one resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival. A perfect companion for a rainy afternoon by the cove.

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