9.34k reviews for:

The Marriage Portrait

Maggie O'Farrell

4.03 AVERAGE

jen_16's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

lacava29's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

lourdes86's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad medium-paced

kpbookcorner's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative mysterious

charlottebate's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

plain_as_pandemonium's review against another edition

3.75

challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

taysbookhabit's review against another edition

2.0

dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

lufferdinks's review against another edition

3.0

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I can't say I was super impressed with it, which I'm kind of bummed about.

It's an intriguing story and subject matter and I do think it's one of the better historical fiction books that's been published in recent years -- I think I was just too impatient for the (many) overzealous descriptions.

dmwelker's review against another edition

4.0

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

bridge_overbooked's review against another edition

3.0

tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I liked the idea of this, but it should've been much shorter. Also, I wish that more thought would have been put into Alfonso's initial treatment of Lucrezia because as it stands, his "character switch" is much less surprising. My favorite thing about this one was that it does have an eerie vibe throughout the whole book.

In The Marriage Portrait, young Lucrezia de’ Medici is forced into a political marriage with Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, after the death of her older sister. As she navigates her new life in the duke’s court, she begins to sense his controlling nature and grows increasingly fearful that he intends to kill her. Blending historical fact with lyrical fiction, the novel paints a vivid portrait of a spirited woman struggling for autonomy in a world that seeks to silence her.