Product Description
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities.

But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art.

The Birth of Venus is a tour de force, the first historical novel from one of Britain’s most innovative writers of literary suspense. It brings alive the history of Florence at its most dramatic period, telling a compulsively absorbing story of love, art, religion, and power through the passionate voice of Alessandra, a heroine with the same vibrancy of spirit as her beloved city.

From the Hardcover edition.

Amazon.com Review
Sarah Dunant's gorgeous and mesmerizing novel, Birth of Venus, draws readers into a turbulent 15th-century Florence, a time when the lavish city, steeped in years of Medici family luxury, is suddenly besieged by plague, threat of invasion, and the righteous wrath of a fundamentalist monk. Dunant masterfully blends fact and fiction, seamlessly interweaving Florentine history with the coming-of-age story of a spirited 14-year-old girl. As Florence struggles in Savonarola's grip, a serial killer stalks the streets, the French invaders creep closer, and young Alessandra Cecchi must surrender her "childish" dreams and navigate her way into womanhood. Readers are quickly seduced by the simplicity of her unconventional passions that are more artistic than domestic:

Dancing is one of the many things I should be good at that I am not. Unlike my sister. Plautilla can move across the floor like water and sing a stave of music like a song bird, while I, who can translate both Latin and Greek faster than she or my brothers can read it, have club feet on the dance floor and a voice like a crow. Though I swear if I were to paint the scale I could do it in a flash: shining gold leaf for the top notes falling through ochres and reds into hot purple and deepest blue.

Alessandra's story, though central, is only one part of this multi-faceted and complex historical novel. Dunant paints a fascinating array of women onto her dark canvas, each representing the various fates of early Renaissance women: Alessandra's lovely (if simple) sister Plautilla is interested only in marrying rich and presiding over a household; the brave Erila, Alessandra's North African servant (and willing accomplice) has such a frank understanding of the limitations of her sex that she often escapes them; and Signora Cecchi, Alessandra's beautiful but weary mother tries to encourage yet temper the passions of her wayward daughter.

A luminous and lush novel, The Birth of Venus, at its heart, is a mysterious and sensual story with razor-sharp teeth. Like Alessandra, Dunant has a painter's eye--her writing is rich and evocative, luxuriating in colors and textures of the city, the people, and the art of 15th-century Florence. Reminiscent of Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, but with sensual splashes of color and the occasional thrill of fear, Dunant's novel is both exciting and enchanting. --Daphne Durham

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 293 reviews)

Not actually about Venus, but still a great read by Lisa Bassan (Peachtree City,GA)

4 Stars
June 19, 2009
This was the first Sarah Dunant book that I had read. It kept me interested throughout the whole book and am looking forward to reading more of her novels.

Inspiring, romantic, and incredibly well written by Avery

5 Stars
May 30, 2009
Sarah Dunant's book is the best book I have ever read. The story takes place in Italy and shares its very explicit history with a wonderful storyline. The painter and Alessandra's love was well portrayed and very romantic. The rhythm of the story was very clear and entertaining. It was a very fun read. I found myself not being able to put it down. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is an avid reader.

Best of historical fiction! by historicalficlover (Bennington, Vt)

5 Stars
May 18, 2009
This is one of the best books I have ever read. The only thing wrong with it is that it had to come to an end. I traveled to Italy last year and visited Florence while there. Since my trip I have been driven to read about Florence and Venice from an historical perspective. This book did not disappoint in that aspect or in the characters. To say I became engrossed is an understatement: the main character of Alessandra Cecchi, the "painter", the Renaissance, and the turbulence in Florence at the time all blended to make a book I couldn't put down. I was very sad when it ended.
Also, don't miss "In the Company of the Courtesan" by the same author. This takes place in Venice in the 1500's and is just as engrossing.

Ah, Florence... by P.G. Dawn (CA)

4 Stars
April 24, 2009
3.5 stars. Ms. Dunant does a remarkable job of recapturing Florence of the Medici family, patrons of the Italian Renaissance, and of the turbulent times of the mad monk, Savonarola.

It was such a pleasure reading about everyday life in Florence of that era. The descriptions of Savonarola's speeches and of the stir he created among the Florentine were amazing, my favorites.

This was not the first historical novel I've read with the theme of the young woman marrying the "wrong" man (I don't want to spoil this book for other readers, so I won't say why he was unsuitable). Still, Ms. Dunant gave the subject a fresh, interesting approach. I can't say that I was surprised but I did feel the heroine's angst and disappointment on her wedding night. That was a very sad moment. Difficult to read, as a woman.

Strangely, the parts I didn't like were the characters. I pretty much disliked all of Alessandra's relations. And I thought Alessandra herself was weak, easily controlled, and childish. I know she was very young, but in those days 15 year old girls married and had children. Some of them held court and carried out secret political intrigues. The women of the age were as remarkable as the men - if not more so. Alessandra never grows up, never evolves, always ready to throw in the towel--up to the very end. What she does in the end was so unreasonable to me. I didn't get it. That was the best Alessandra could do? I couldn't understand the reasoning behind her decision and felt that the author was looking for a way to wrap up the book and came up with a blank. It made no sense to me. Another thing I didn't like about Alessandra was her relationship with her old slave woman. She let that weird servant rule her life, really control her and dictate her actions, even when Alessandra became a widow. Obviously the author meant to take this toward the "surprise" ending. But this only made it worse. So I have to say that I didn't like the main character, and her story was okay until the middle. From that point the book went downhill for me.

Also, I found the romantic subplot with the painter lukewarm at best (the garden scene was dead boring). I was disappointed at feeling so disconnected from the two lovers to the point that I really didn't care if they were together or not. The melodrama and overdone tragedy didn't get a single heart clenching from me.

Still, I have to say that this book is worth reading. Absolutely. Because the premise is fantastic. I love well-researched books with vivid period detail. This book had richness, a vibrant, authentic atmosphere, and included interesting facts about Renaissance Florence that I didn't know.

Read this book for the dazzling setting and the fascinating portrayal of the forward-thinking Florentine who fell under the spell of a fanatic madman. The parts about the city life were riveting!

Very entertaining by Linda A. Slott (Oceanside, NY)

4 Stars
April 10, 2009
The Birth of Venus begins with the death of an older nun, whose manuscript of her life is found after her death. We know who she is, what we don't know is how she came to this convent. So begins the tale of Alessandra Checci, daughter of a wealthy Florentine merchant.

Alessandra is a bright, inquisitive and impetuous fifteen year old girl who's dream of becoming a painter is impossible, considering the mores of 15th century Florence, and the role of women at that time - to marry and bear children, period. When Alessandra's father hires an artist, referred to throughout the book as the painter, to create fresco's for their family chapel, Alessandra finds herself repeatedly drawn to him, despite knowing that they can never be more than painter and subject. As the city of Florence is thrown into turmoil by the rise in power of the fanatical monk Savonarola, so too does Alessandra's life take many surprising twists and turns.

I loved this book and the story, which was often very surprising. Just when you believe the story is heading in one way, a clever twist takes it in another. I loved the characters of the women in this book, Alessandra; reckless and brave, Erila; the wise and compassionate slave and Alessandra's mother, a strong and beautiful woman trying to tame her impetuous daughter. I learned quite a bit of Italian history that I had no prior knowledge of in this enchanting and very entertaining tale.

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