Sarah Dunant
The Birth of Venus (2003)
Author: Sarah Dunant
Genre: Historical
Plot Summary:
Alessandra is the youngest daughter of a fairly wealthy Florentine family. She dreams of apprenticing to a painter and learning to create frescos and religious paintings as were being made around her in Florence. She, with the help of her servant and friend, Erila, secretly draws herself and her experiences within religious compositions. When she turns 14, her parents give her the ultimatum to marry or to be sent to a convent. She decides to marry an older man named Cristoforo, who turns out to be the lover of one of her brothers, Tomaso. Meanwhile, Alessandra finds herself attracted to a painter hired by her father to paint a fresco of the family. Alessandra battles with her artistic calling as well as the constraints of being a woman in late 15th century Italy. Alessandra becomes pregnant. Meanwhile, religious and political battles rage on in the streets of Florence. Increased punishments for sodomy force Cristoforo to fake his death and run away with Tomaso. Alessandra and her daughter move to a progressive convent where Alessandra is able to pursue her love of art. Years later, Alessandra's painter finds her in the convent and realizes that her daughter is his as well. Alessandra sends her daughter with the painter in order that she may become the apprentice that Alessandra always wanted to be.
Geographical Setting: Florence, Italy
Time Period: 1490 to 1528
Appeal Characteristics:
The Birth of Venus is fairly fast-paced. Conflicts arise and are quickly acknowledged and resolved. The story is balanced evenly between dialogue and exposition, but most memorable are its descriptions of specific works of Renaissance art. Interior and exterior action is also evenly balanced. The reader follows Alessandra's inner development as well as the exterior plot-line of the historically accurate battle over religious control in Florence that effects the lives of all of the characters in The Birth of Venus. Love, physical development during puberty, and sex are a large part of the story. The reader witnesses intimate physical details of Alessandra's body and experiences. All of the characters in The Birth of Venus are complicated and include their own minor plot lines. In this way, the story includes the ways of life of families and servants in late 15th, early 16th century Florence. Alessandra's sister marries and has many children; losing one during childbirth. Close friends and relatives die of a plague that sweeps through the city and all of this is tied back to Alessandra and her family members' experiences. The reader is extremely close to Alessandra as the novel is written in her 1st person voice. The reader sees what she sees and hears all of her confessions and thoughts. In this way, Alessandra is the main focus of the novel, although she defines herself, her thoughts are dominated by, the relationships she has as well as the current political and religious state of Florence. The setting of Florence during the end of the 15th century is very realistic and includes many accurate historical details of political figures, battles, etc. The ending of The Birth of Venus resolves all of the conflicts mentioned in the novel and is very satisfying and believable. Dunant also includes an afterword that ties in historical facts with the possibilities of there having actually lived a strong female character like Alessandra. Most striking is this novel's accessibility. Also, the fairly fast pace is surprising and compelling considering the weight of historical material mentioned.
Read-alikes: Try Hella Haase’s The Scarlet City: A Novel of 16th Century Italy for those readers interested in the plot line regarding late 15th, early 16th century Italy. Set during the same time period, this story deals with several characters whose lives are forever changed by the Italian Wars. Also try Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl for readers interested in the plot about siblings sharing a lover as between Alessandra and her brother Tomaso. The Other Boleyn Girl tells the story of two sisters who share a lover during the reign of Henry VIII and the conflict this causes. Try Susan Vreeland’s The Passion of Artemisia because it is written in first person as is The Birth of Venus, and tells the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, a female Italian painter who is also forced into an arranged marriage and who must struggle as a female artist, much like the character of Alessandra. This novel is also reviewed as being the most accessible story of the historical Artemisia. Also try Joanne Harris’s Holy Fools for those readers who particularly enjoyed the final section of The Birth of Venus during which Alessandra lives with her daughter in the convent, combined with a female with an unconventional artistic interest and the element of romance. Holy Fools takes place in 17th century France and tells the story of Juliette, a gypsy acrobat who falls in love with a man, but who must face the constraints of her surroundings and raise her daughter in a convent. Try Maria Bellonci’s Private Renaissance because it tells the story of a strong woman, Isabella d'Este, as she became at Duchess at 16 years old and presided over the 15th-16th century court of Mantua. Here Isabella encountered art, scholars, philosophy, as well as political turmoil. Alessandra could have been Isabella in another life. Bellonci, a Renaissance historian, won Italy's Strega prize for this novel. You might try Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. This book follows the life of a young girl drawn to the world of art just like Alessandra. Leonardo's Swans: A Novel by Karen Essex details the lives of two sisters who try to get the attention of Leonardo de Vinci. The family problems and similar setting make this a good readalike. Irving Stone's The Agony and the ecstasy: a biographical novel of Michelangelo details the life of one of the great Renaissance artists who makes a cameo in The Birth of Venus. A novel by Mario Puzo, The Family: A Novel, deals with the problems of an Italian "crime" family living in Italy in the same time period as Dunant's novel. The two families are paralleled in their wealth and in their views on the religious happenings of the time. Finally, try John Faunce’s Lucrezia Borgia because it is written in 1st person and tells the story of the historical Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, in late 15th century Italy. Borgia must endure several arranged marriages and ends up exiling herself to a convent, as does Alessandra.
Red Flags: Some graphic language and graphic descriptions of sexual encounters.
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