One of the main characters battles breast cancer, and it almost seems to me that everyone out there knows someone who is battling it and we are becomming decesitized to it, until it happens to oneself that is. I just kept thinking of who I could lend this book to. Although I didn’t find the story inspiring, it didn’t make me want to move out to Cape Ann, but it did make me want to talk about it over coffee with my closest girlfriends (and that includes my mother in law!).

I recommend this book and I can’t wait to read Anita’s other popular novel, The Red Tent

I have not yet seen the movie based on the book, but I can tell it would make a great movie. The characters are really well developed. Only thing is, I don’t think Toni Collette is a size 14, she plays Rose in the movie. In this particular story the physical appearance of the girls is really important. I’m very interested to see how the movie compares to the book. If anyone has seen and read the story let me know.

In the end Alesandra and her daughter go to a convent outside of Florence. Per the notes of the author ” In the early sixteenth century, as dowries rose and the number of unmarried women increased, certain convents in northern Italy were found to be operating with particularly lax rules on behavior. The Church investigaged, and the offending convents were either cleansed or closed down.”
This depicted the convent in the novel. Alessandra not only entered with her child, but also brought her slave, who eventually earned her freedom. There, she finally gets to truly explore her artistic talents and paints the inside of the convent’s chapel.

This novel depicted a morally and politcially corrupt,Florence. The lives of the people were centered around religion, even luxuries were governed. People needed an outlet, and many found it in the night. I found the story and the historical setting to be fascinating.

Alessandra, grows up in a wealthy family, and is allowed to explore her talents and interest in art. As a result of the changes in the city-politically and religiously she decides to marry. Alessandra marrys a man she knows little about. On her wedding night she learns the truth behind the marriage; which will allow her more freedom than other wives, yet will not give her the love and security that comes along with a traditional marriage.

Meanwhile, Alessandra has a fascination with a painter, who was employed by her father. She marvels at his ability as an artist; but I also think there is more to it.

The story goes that Queen Mary is wed to Prince Phillip of Spain; he is young, rich and handsome. While she is aging and needs to give birth to a male air to solidify her right to the throne. She is unable to have a baby, and Prince Phillip loses interest. Her sister, Princess Elizabeth catches his eye. She is known to be a flirt, and swiftly makes the Prince fall for her; meanwhile she is plotting to dethrone her half sister. For all who do not know the story, Elizabeth’s mother was Anne Boleyn, the 2nd wife to King Henry the VIII. Anne seduced Henry and got him to put his wife aside in order to marry her. Her 1st wife was Queen Katherine (Mary’s mother). The story of Anne is detailed in Pilippa’s other book “The Other Boleyn Girl”. This is also a must read.

While Queen Mary is trying to hold onto her husband, she is dying. Elizabeth is considered a traitor and imprisoned in a tower, to be sentenced to death, by beheading. She survives her confinement and eventually takes over the throne, after her sister’s death.

The book concentrates on the main character, Hannah the Fool, who rises in court as Queen Mary’s confidant, but ends up running from court and the country, because of her secrets (her true religion Judaism). The story line is intriguing while all the historical tidbits make this educational.

What I learned: How barbaric the English were during the 15th century, beheading anyone who doesn’t conform to their religion beliefs, or who says an ill word against the government.

Lilly Bart, is the woman I always dreamed of being, she is beatiful and calculating in that she can use her beauty and whit to advance herself. She however is a tragic figure, she like many women does not want to marry to simply be a trophy wife and yet that is really her only option if she wants to live well. Lilly has vices, she smokes, drinks and gambles, which does not appeal to certain gentlemen with whom she is trying to impress. The story would have been boring if she had simply married Percy Gryce and lived happily ever after as a good christian girl, and I’m pretty sure Edith Wharten knew that. Instead, Lilly gets herself into debt . Her aunt leaves her nothing after her death and she must depend on men with less honorable intentions. She continues to make the wrong decisions and always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,. The irony is that she ends up with her independece yet with no money and is all alone. Lilly dies a sad death, but was loved after all by Lawrence Selden.

The book is tragic and shows the constrains on women but also the power that women wield. It is a fascinating story of a woman’s fall which was caused by her conflicting goals for wanting all the luxuries of life and yet her independence.

I think all women should be able to escape to a place of beauty. This book at least let me escape to this imaginary world that Sue Monk Kidd created, for a short while.