Maggie O'Farrell: The Marriage Portrait, Tinder Press, 9781472223852, large format paperback

(German edition: Portrait einer Ehe, Piper Verlag, 

A book that stays in your head after you have long finished reading is my criteria for an ace read. " The Marriage Portrait" by Maggie O'Farrell defintely falls into this category. 

I was completely drawn in by the fate of  Lucrezia de Medici who became the Duchess of Ferrera at the tender age of 15 and O' Farrells extraordinary writing.  Based on historical facts taking some fictional liberties, the story starts with Lucrezia being convinced that her husband Alfonso is taking her to an unexpected visit to their country fortress in order to murder her.

This delicate, sensitive and artistic young woman who was married off to Alfonso, Duke of Feŕrara by her father Cosimo de Medici against her will and expected to produce a male heir,  was completely ill suited to the brutal and restrictive court life of a noble woman in Renaissance Italy.  Some of the happenings made me gasp. It is a fascinating story and O' Farrell narration is so fine and nuanced.

Loved ever page of it and still cannot get some the characters, particularly Lucrezia and Alfonso, out of my head.