Book Review
Nov. 25th, 2008 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariLeonardo's Swans
by Karen Essex
This historical novel was set in Renaissance Italy and concerned the lives of Isabella and Beatrice d'Este from their early adolescence through shortly after the latter's death at 21. The two sisters are each married to powerful men: Isabella to Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua; and Beatrice to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Despite their very different personalities, both sisters become adept politicians and great patrons of the arts. Leonardo da Vinci is also a key character in the book, and an important figure on both sisters' lives. However, he is not as central a character as the title might suggest. Essex does a skillful job of weaving political and intellectual competition among the nobility with sibling rivalry, although she doesn't delve terribly deep into her themes.
by Karen Essex
This historical novel was set in Renaissance Italy and concerned the lives of Isabella and Beatrice d'Este from their early adolescence through shortly after the latter's death at 21. The two sisters are each married to powerful men: Isabella to Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua; and Beatrice to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Despite their very different personalities, both sisters become adept politicians and great patrons of the arts. Leonardo da Vinci is also a key character in the book, and an important figure on both sisters' lives. However, he is not as central a character as the title might suggest. Essex does a skillful job of weaving political and intellectual competition among the nobility with sibling rivalry, although she doesn't delve terribly deep into her themes.
