The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

来自纽约时报畅销书 Hamnet 的作者–美国国家书评人协会奖得主–一部以文艺复兴时期意大利为背景的激动人心的新小说，以迷人的年轻女公爵 Lucrezia de Medici 为中心。

佛罗伦萨，1550年代。卢克蕾齐娅，大公的第三个女儿，对她在宫廷中的默默无闻的地位很满意：自由地惊叹于它的宝藏，观察它的秘密工作，并投身于她自己的艺术追求。但是，当她的姐姐在与费拉拉的统治者、Moderna和Regio的婚礼前夕去世时，Lucrezia在不知不觉中被推到了风口浪尖上：公爵很快就向她求婚，她的父亲也很快就代表她接受了。

卢克蕾齐娅几乎没有离开过少女时代，现在她必须在一个混乱的宫廷中闯荡，那里的习俗不透明，她的到来也没有受到普遍欢迎。也许最神秘的是她的新丈夫阿方索本人。他到底是结婚前的那个嬉皮笑脸，还是在艺术家和音乐家的陪伴下最开心的美学家，还是连他那些可怕的姐妹们都害怕的无情的政治家？

当卢克蕾齐娅穿着紧身衣为一幅旨在将她的形象保留到未来几个世纪的画作而坐着时，有一件事变得令人担忧地清楚。在宫廷的眼里，她只有一个责任：提供继承人，支撑起费拉尼斯王朝的未来。在此之前，新公爵夫人的所有等级和贵族身份，其未来完全悬于一线。

玛吉-奥法雷尔的作品充满了戏剧性和活力，她在莎士比亚的 Hamnet 中也是如此，她将文艺复兴时期的意大利世界带入了宝石般璀璨的生活中，并为一个坚韧不拔的年轻女子的生存之战提供了一幅令人难忘的画卷。

From the author of the breakout New York Times best seller Hamnet—winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award—an electrifying new novel set in Renaissance Italy, and centering on the captivating young duchess Lucrezia de Medici.

Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.

Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?

As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.

Full of the drama and verve with which she illuminated the Shakespearean canvas of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life, and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.