Items related to The Birth Of Venus
Synopsis
Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous merchant father brings a young painter back with him from Holland to adorn the walls of the new family chapel. She is fascinated by his talents and envious of his abilities and opportunities to paint to the glory of God. Soon her love of art and her lively independence are luring her into closer involvement with all sorts of taboo areas of life. On excursions into the streets of night-time Florence she observes a terrible evil stalking the city and witnesses the rise of the fiery young priest, Savanarola, who has set out to rid the city of vice, richness, even art itself.
Alessandra must make crucial decisions about the shape of her adult life, as Florence itself must choose between the old ways of the luxury-loving Medicis and the asceticism of Savanorola. And through it all, there is the painter, whose love will change everything.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
The Birth of Venus is all the more fascinating a historical novel for the author's inability to make up her mind what it is about. Is it a novel about the limited choices available to a woman with talent in Renaissance Florence--marriage or the convent? Or is it a novel about the choices you make to survive in a totalitarian society? As Savonarola takes Florence closer and closer to being an ascetic theocracy, Alessandra, her gay brother and his lover whom she has married for mutual protection find themselves in more and more peril. It could also be a detective story--Allesandra is in love with a painter whose religious mania and fascination with the body makes him a plausible suspect for a series of killings and dismemberments. Some historical novels wear their research too heavily--Dunant's is light, fluent and pacy, but her fascination with the possibilities revealed by research leaves her failing to make choices.
The Birth of Venus is a highly intelligent novel kept from incoherence mostly by the intensely imagined Alessandra, through whose eyes we see the tragic end of a key moment in human culture and whose lively sensibility constantly sparks ideas about art and her time. --Roz Kaveney
Book Description
* A richly imagined historical novel set in 15th-century Florence - a Tour de Force.
* Combines mystery, history, politics and passion in a story of gripping power
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherLittle, Brown
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 0316726036
- ISBN 13 9780316726030
- BindingPaperback
- LanguageEnglish
- Number of pages352
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for The Birth Of Venus
Stock Image
The Birth of Venus : A Novel
Published by
Little Brown & Company, 2003
ISBN 10: 0316726036
ISBN 13: 9780316726030
Used
Soft cover
Signed
Seller: Shadetree Rare Books, Chatham, VA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Signed by Author. First Edition paperback. Very Good condition. Minor wrinkle to lower left rear corner. Small dent to left center of front. Scarce signed copy. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # G5973
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
The Birth Of Venus
Published by
Little, Brown 06/03/2003, 2003
ISBN 10: 0316726036
ISBN 13: 9780316726030
Used
Softcover
Seller: AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9780316726030
Quantity: 2 available
Stock Image
The Birth Of Venus
Published by
Little, Brown 06/03/2003, 2003
ISBN 10: 0316726036
ISBN 13: 9780316726030
Used
Softcover
Seller: Bahamut Media, Reading, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. Shipped within 24 hours from our UK warehouse. Clean, undamaged book with no damage to pages and minimal wear to the cover. Spine still tight, in very good condition. Remember if you are not happy, you are covered by our 100% money back guarantee. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780316726030
Quantity: 2 available
Seller Image
The Birth Of Venus
Published by
Little Brown, London, 2003
ISBN 10: 0316726036
ISBN 13: 9780316726030
Used
Paperback
First Edition
Seller: Marlowes Books and Music, Ferny Grove, QLD, Australia
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. 346 pages. Book is in Very good condition throughout. Love And Death In Florence, A Beautiful Serpent Of A Novel,seductive And Dangerous. Seller Inventory # 076447
Quantity: 1 available
Seller Image
The Birth of Venus
Seller: Book Express (NZ), Wellington, New Zealand
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. 346 pages. cover wornSet in 15th-century Florence, this is a novel of mystery, history, politics a nd passion. Fourteen-year-old Alessandra's love of art and her lively independen ce lure her into a world of all sorts of taboos. She must make crucial decisions. Seller Inventory # 3851l
Quantity: 1 available
Stock Image
The Birth of Venus
Seller: Book Haven, Wellington, WLG, New Zealand
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. Sarah Dunant's gorgeous and mesmerizing novel, Birth of Venus, draws readers into a turbulent 15th-century Florence, a time when the lavish city, steeped in years of Medici family luxury, is suddenly besieged by plague, threat of invasion, and the righteous wrath of a fundamentalist monk. Dunant masterfully blends fact and fiction, seamlessly interweaving Florentine history with the coming-of-age story of a spirited 14-year-old girl. As Florence struggles in Savonarola's grip, a serial killer stalks the streets, the French invaders creep closer, and young Alessandra Cecchi must surrender her 'childish' dreams and navigate her way into womanhood. Readers are quickly seduced by the simplicity of her unconventional passions that are more artistic than Dancing is one of the many things I should be good at that I am not. Unlike my sister. Plautilla can move across the floor like water and sing a stave of music like a song bird, while I, who can translate both Latin and Greek faster than she or my brothers can read it, have club feet on the dance floor and a voice like a crow. Though I swear if I were to paint the scale I could do it in a shining gold leaf for the top notes falling through ochres and reds into hot purple and deepest blue. Alessandra's story, though central, is only one part of this multi-faceted and complex historical novel. Dunant paints a fascinating array of women onto her dark canvas, each representing the various fates of early Renaissance Alessandra's lovely (if simple) sister Plautilla is interested only in marrying rich and presiding over a household; the brave Erila, Alessandra's North African servant (and willing accomplice) has such a frank understanding of the limitations of her sex that she often escapes them; and Signora Cecchi, Alessandra's beautiful but weary mother tries to encourage yet temper the passions of her wayward daughter. A luminous and lush novel, The Birth of Venus, at its heart, is a mysterious and sensual story with razor-sharp teeth. Like Alessandra, Dunant has a painter's eye--her writing is rich and evocative, luxuriating in colors and textures of the city, the people, and the art of 15th-century Florence. Reminiscent of Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, but with sensual splashes of color and the occasional thrill of fear, Dunant's novel is both exciting and enchanting. 352 pages. Seller Inventory # 1531383
Quantity: 1 available