The Scarlet Contessa A Novel of the Italian Renaissance (Audible Audio Edition) Jeanne Kalogridis Wanda McCaddon Tantor Audio Books
Download As PDF : The Scarlet Contessa A Novel of the Italian Renaissance (Audible Audio Edition) Jeanne Kalogridis Wanda McCaddon Tantor Audio Books
Daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of the conniving Count Girolamo Riario, Caterina Sforza was the bravest warrior Renaissance Italy ever knew. She ruled her own lands, fought her own battles, and openly took lovers whenever she pleased. Her remarkable tale is told by her lady-in-waiting, Dea, a woman knowledgeable in reading the "triumph cards", the predecessor of modern-day Tarot.
As Dea tries to unravel the truth about her husband's murder, Caterina single-handedly holds off invaders who would steal her title and lands. However, Dea's reading of the cards reveals that Caterina cannot withstand a third and final invader - none other than Cesare Borgia, son of the corrupt Pope Alexander VI, who has an old score to settle with Caterina.
Trapped inside the Fortress at Ravaldino as Borgia's cannons pound the walls, Dea reviews Caterina's scandalous past and struggles to understand their joint destiny, while Caterina valiantly tries to fight off Borgia's unconquerable army.
The Scarlet Contessa A Novel of the Italian Renaissance (Audible Audio Edition) Jeanne Kalogridis Wanda McCaddon Tantor Audio Books
With the new Showtime series The Borgias, publishers and authors have begun the cascade of Borgia-era novels. I've seen no fewer than five new Borgia-inspired novels being published (or republished) this year. I'm sure that's only the beginning. With the increased interest in the Borgias and all things Renaissance Italy has come a a resurgence in older Borgia novels, including Jeanne Kalogridis' The Borgia Bride and her 2010 novel, The Scarlet Contessa. But Kalogridis has been painting the world of Renaissance Italy on the page for years with the most vivid and well-trained hand out there.In The Scarlet Contessa, Kalogridis takes on Caterina Sforza, the daughter of the Duke of Milan, a fascinating and strong Renaissance woman who dared to defy Cesare Borgia, son of the notorious Pope Alexander VI (aka Rodrigo Borgia). Told through the eyes of Caterina's servant, Dea, who possesses the unique ability to read Tarot cards and foretell Caterina's future, Scarlet Contessa tells a strange and dangerous tale made even more colorful by Caterina's dark past and desperate need to continue fighting to protect her lands and live the life she wants.
I had somewhat mixed feelings about this one -and they aren't all bad. Let's start the bad...just to get it over with. Dea isn't a bad character -far from it, she's a fairly a interesting woman who offers interesting commentary on Caterina's life and lives a dangerous and romantic life of her own. However, Caterina was a considerably more interesting character who openly defied the social conventions of the times. She ended up being more interesting than the narrator of the story, and whenever the narrative shifted more to focus on Dea, I wanted it to get back to Caterina because I just wasn't as interested in Dea.
That aside, Scarlet Contessa is an incredibly well-written, well-plotted novel that I was able to get completely invested in from the very beginning and kept with it up until the end. Kalogridis' attention to detail and excellent eye for historical accuracy shone through in every sentence and the characters where fascinating to read about, but most importantly, I couldn't put the book down.
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The Scarlet Contessa A Novel of the Italian Renaissance (Audible Audio Edition) Jeanne Kalogridis Wanda McCaddon Tantor Audio Books Reviews
The level of detail provided in some instances is more than I care to have. Example clothing details. I didn't gain enough useful information to make this amount of detail relevant to the novel.
The novel is centered in a difficult time and place, so some amount of dark and gloom is to be expected. It's not a great time to be a member of the aristocracy, and it certainly wouldn't be a great time to a contadino. However, the author's overall tone dwells to long on the dark side of the contessa's life.
Keep the history, keep it real, but include a little more light throughout the story.
this is a great book about a woman that is relatively unknown. i must admit, i have never heard of her until i began reading and exploring about Renaissance Italy, specifically the Borgia's and the powerful italian families at this time. this book is written from the perspective of Caterina's lady in waiting. The story is intriguing and well written. the author makes the characters very dimensional, so you become invested in them and their outcome in the story. the author does a great job bringing the characters to life. She uses a lot of detail with becoming redundant and overbearing. if you are interested in Renaissance Italy, you will love this book. Happy Reading
Although this is a decent read, and fair historical novel, I was hoping for a bit more historical information on Sforza, a figure that's interested me for years (and even my boys tell me appears in one of their violent video games). I knew it was written from the point of view of her handmaiden/half sister, but most of the content regarding Sforza seemed pretty contrived and only remotely fact-based. And the whole mystic powers direction was absolutely unnecessary and uninteresting.
This is, by far, one of the best historical novels I have ever read. I was happy to find a book about Caterina Sforza,as I knew of her place in the history of the Borgias, but did not know much about her. The story is told from the point of view of her lady-in-waiting, who is one of the few fictional characters in the novel. The personalities of all the characters are well drawn, and the author sticks closely to the facts of this period of history. I honestly did not want to pause in my reading of this very well written story. I look forward to the author's next novel.
Through the eyes and colorful memory of her lady attendant Dea, we learn Sforza’s story from the age of 14 through her defeat by Pope Alexander’s (Rodrigo Borgia) son Cesare. Cannons are not the only artillery in the story, as Dea’s love and Sforza’s courage and lustiness are explosive and endlessly entertaining. Applause for Kalogridis!
This book about Catherina Sforza is written well, flows smoothly and descriptive enough for making reader care about the characters. However the book takes almost five hundred pages to tell the story of Catherina. ( She married the eldest son of the pope, Giralamo Riario, after the assassination of her father, Duke of Milan. After Giralamo’s father’s death, the family lost everything and they moved to live in the country side, Forli and Emoli. Catherina married Giovanni de Medici secretly and had a baby boy a couple of years after her husband’s assassination. Three years after her marriage, her second husband passed away and she had to give up her lands to Cesare Borgia to be released from jail.) Although I enjoyed reading this book which was well-written, flew smoothly, and descriptive enough to make me care about the characters, it had a very sad tone and very little information about Catherina I hadn’t known before. The most of the book is about Catherina's fictional lady-in-waiting, who narrates the book, rather than Catherina. I also didn’t care for the fact the book ended after Cesare invaded her land and conquered her castle, leaving me wonder about the rest of her life.
With the new Showtime series The Borgias, publishers and authors have begun the cascade of Borgia-era novels. I've seen no fewer than five new Borgia-inspired novels being published (or republished) this year. I'm sure that's only the beginning. With the increased interest in the Borgias and all things Renaissance Italy has come a a resurgence in older Borgia novels, including Jeanne Kalogridis' The Borgia Bride and her 2010 novel, The Scarlet Contessa. But Kalogridis has been painting the world of Renaissance Italy on the page for years with the most vivid and well-trained hand out there.
In The Scarlet Contessa, Kalogridis takes on Caterina Sforza, the daughter of the Duke of Milan, a fascinating and strong Renaissance woman who dared to defy Cesare Borgia, son of the notorious Pope Alexander VI (aka Rodrigo Borgia). Told through the eyes of Caterina's servant, Dea, who possesses the unique ability to read Tarot cards and foretell Caterina's future, Scarlet Contessa tells a strange and dangerous tale made even more colorful by Caterina's dark past and desperate need to continue fighting to protect her lands and live the life she wants.
I had somewhat mixed feelings about this one -and they aren't all bad. Let's start the bad...just to get it over with. Dea isn't a bad character -far from it, she's a fairly a interesting woman who offers interesting commentary on Caterina's life and lives a dangerous and romantic life of her own. However, Caterina was a considerably more interesting character who openly defied the social conventions of the times. She ended up being more interesting than the narrator of the story, and whenever the narrative shifted more to focus on Dea, I wanted it to get back to Caterina because I just wasn't as interested in Dea.
That aside, Scarlet Contessa is an incredibly well-written, well-plotted novel that I was able to get completely invested in from the very beginning and kept with it up until the end. Kalogridis' attention to detail and excellent eye for historical accuracy shone through in every sentence and the characters where fascinating to read about, but most importantly, I couldn't put the book down.
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