A review by hannah_21
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Beautifully crafted just like Hamnet- I liked the progression of the characters and the way your really got a sense of her resistance against the oppression she faced. Interesting going into it again being told she’s going to die - similar to Hamnet where it makes you think differently about the character. The ending was really tense and read almost like a thriller.
I loved the mention of Venice at the end although I did think the last chapter was a bit rushed -would have been good to see Lucrezia show remorse for Emilia’s death-I also did guess quite early on that they were going to swap lucrezia for the maid but it was still nice to see her survive
Overall a good book but I knocked off a Star because bits of it were quite slow.
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