The Marchesa - by Sarah Dunant (Hardcover)

About the Book

"For the longest time after my death, those who claimed an interest in history showed little interest in me. Or indeed women like me. Nor did they seem to care much about the wonder of our city states: Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino. We may never have been as grand or powerful as Venice or Rome or Florence but our great age - this thing that is now so valued and trumpeted as the Renaissance - would have been a much lesser affair without us."--

Book Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan comes a vibrant exploration of the Italian Renaissance through the character of Isabella d'Este, the first female art collector and patron of her time. Her famed collection has long since dispersed or been lost, but what remains is her correspondence - thousands of letters preserved in a deconsecrated church and convent in the archive of Mantua.

'For the longest time after my death, those who claimed an interest in history showed little interest in me. Or indeed women like me. Nor did they seem to care much about the wonder of our city states: Mantua, Ferrara, Urbino. We may never have been as grand or powerful as Venice or Rome or Florence but our great age - this thing that is now so valued and trumpeted as the Renaissance - would have been a much lesser affair without us.'

The Marchesa is Renaissance history at its most vivid, an immersive, multi-layered experience that mixes historical fiction with biography, scholarship and imagery, of both the people and the time. It is also a meditation on our attitude to history itself, challenging how far we can set aside our own values and certainties when it comes to understanding those who grew out of very different cultural soil.

Review Quotes

'Dunant's Isabella is a triumph​ - she is too ferocious, too alive to be a mere wisp of a ghost.​ Dunant gives her a brilliantly lively afterlife.' Antonia Senior​, The Times Best Historical Fiction Books, 2025

'An utterly fascinating portrayal of a formidable and brilliant woman wielding power in the complex turmoil of the political landscape of Renaissance Italy - a woman who is irrepressible even in death.' Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Hera

'Sarah Dunant combines meticulous research, narrative verve, and feminist insight to make The Marchesa an utterly compelling, unputdownable read. Courageous and loyal, brilliant and volatile, selfish and selfless; the extraordinary Isabella d'Este - the greatest woman of the Renaissance - comes roaring to life in these pages and into our hearts.' Dr. Amanda Foreman, author of best selling Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire

'What distinguishes and elevates to the first order Sarah Dunant's series of five novels set in Renaissance Italy is that she combines flawless historical scholarship with beguiling storytelling.' Guardian

'Dunant makes the art and philosophy of the period look new and dangerous again.' The Times

'Dunant has made completely her own the story of the Italy's most infamous ruling family ... in a way that we can see, hear and smell.' Guardian

'Dunant has a storyteller's instincts for thrilling detail and the broad sweep of history. This, and her glorious prose, make Dunant's version irresistible.' The Times