Overview
That's my last duchess painted on the wall...Seduced by the hot sun and blinding passions of Renaissance Italy, sixteen-year-old Lucrezia de' Medici sees a gilded life stretching ahead. Her wealthy new husband handpicked her to be his bride, and his great castle in Ferrara will be her playground. But Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara quickly proves to be just as dangerous and mysterious as he is dark and handsome, and the stone walls of the castle seem to trap Lucrezia like a prison.
Only the duke's lover Francesca seems able to tame his increasing fury, as his desperate need to produce an heir drives him deep into precarious obsession. With her head full of heartbroken dreams, Lucrezia flees from him down a dangerous path that may cost her everything.
Step into the elegant world of the Robert Browning poem "My Last Duchess," as imagined by Gabrielle Kimm, where she brings to life the passions and people of sixteenth-century Tuscany and Ferrara. It is a chilling story of forbidden love and dark decadence that will haunt you.
Editorials
Aisle B
His Last Duchess will grab you and be prepared for the twisted moments artfully crafted by Gabrielle Kimm. Trust me you don't want to miss this chilling tale from Renaissance Italy. The strokes of darkness and love combined make this a MUST READ!Booklist
Kimm neatly ties up all the loose ends while cleverly setting the stage for a spin-off. Poetry enthusiasts will be intrigued and historical fiction fans will appreciate the authentic Renaissance-era detailing.Debbie's Book Bag
There are so many twists and turns that the reader will have a hard time figuring out how this one will end.Readin and Dreamin
It had lovely prose and was full of romance and suspense.Kirkus Reviews
A saucy account of Lucrezia de' Medici's ill-fated marriage, inspired by Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess."In Browning's masterpiece, the Duke speaks of his last Duchess on the wall, painted by Fra Pandolf, "looking as if she were alive." In this, Kimm's second novel, she creates the circumstances that lead up to the ominous moment when the Duchess is dead and the Duke jealously guards the painting's likeness. The Duchess is Lucrezia de' Medici, the teenage heir to a considerable 16th-century fortune who is set to marry the powerful Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. The excitement of the marriage ceremony is overshadowed by the misery of the marriage night—the Duke cannot perform. We learn it is no medical matter—the Duke's mistress Francesca has two of his children—but a matter of temperament. Lucrezia's innocent beauty prevents his "stiffening." He keeps trying, but his withering penis (it's practically a character itself) is beginning to turn him mad. The Duke's madness—a buzzing in his head, an obsessive fury and relief found only in the cool confines of the castle dungeon—is a modern take on Browning's villain, and makes the Duke credible. After two years of an issueless marriage to Lucrezia, the Pope is threatening to take away Ferrara if he does not produce a legitimate heir. Meanwhile, the Duke has hired Fra Pandolf to paint a large fresco and Lucrezia is unexpectedly taken with his assistant, Jacomo. The two begin an affair and plan to run away together, once they figure out how to solve the mountain of complications their escape would create. The Duke, more desperate and sadistic than ever, has decided to poison Lucrezia, but not before Fra Pandolf paints her portrait, so he can once and for all possess her. Far more erudite than the average bodice-ripper, the novel straddles the line between the gravity of historical fiction and the trite predictability of romance.
Few surprises, but a punchy end redeems the occasional awkwardness.