Metro, September 2022
After the spectacular success of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell returns to the 16th century for another atmospheric tale of historical women kicking against social and sexual constructs. This time we’re dropped into the Florentine court; intrigue has always surrounded the fate of Lucrezia, the third daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici. Married off as a teen to the Duke of Ferrara, she died a year after they were wed – officially of “putrid fever”.
The Marriage Portrait opens with Lucrezia’s belief that her new husband has brought her to a remote hunting lodge to kill her, the rest of the novel solemnly exploring how this girl’s wild, nonconformist air had got her to this point.
O’Farrell’s poetic prose is effortlessly readable and full of portentous atmosphere. There’s an enjoyably fantastical element to the beasts and villains that cruise the court, too. But The Marriage Portrait’s main problem is tying this setting to narrative thrill or depth of character. Not a failure, then, just not quite as adept as Hamnet.
