The Maiden of Florence
Fairlight Books
A Renaissance #MeToo, based on real events, The Maiden of Florence tells the story of a twenty-year-old girl who was taken from a Dominican-run orphanage in Florence in 1584 to serve as a virility test for the heir to the dukedom of Mantua, enabling him to make a dynastic marriage with a Medici princess. After she had served her purpose, Giulia Albizzi was provided with a dowry and a husband found for her. Here her story is told for the first time from her point of view.
Years later, married and with a growing family, Giulia hopes she has finally escaped the legacy of her past. But when a threat arrives from a sinister figure from her youth, she must finally take control of events – and become the author of her own story.
Based on true events and reminiscent of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, The Maiden of Florence gives a charismatic voice to a woman cast aside by history.
‘I read this enthralled. I love the Italian Renaissance and Mezzacappa brought it to life so vividly through Giulia, a heroine I cared about so very deeply by the time she got her well-deserved happy ending (and even a smidge of revenge). Bravo!‘ – Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling novelist, author of The Briar Club
‘From the opening, harrowing pages to the final quiet and amazingly satisfying ending, this is a magnificent historical novel.’ – Aidan Morrissey, Historical Novel Society
‘The Maiden of Florence is set in 16th Century Italy where women’s bodies could easily be bought, but the novel proves that the internal life of a woman can never be a part of that bargain. Immaculately researched and imagined, rich in period detail and emotionally compelling, The Maiden of Florence is a historical fiction tour-de-force.’ – Deborah Swift author of The Poison Keeper
‘A timely and delicate reimagining of the historical mistreatment of a young woman in Renaissance Italy’ – The Bookseller
‘In The Maiden of Florence Katherine Mezzacappa crafts a sensuous and raw story about beauty, sex, sacrifice, and a mother’s undying love, a moving delineation of what it means to be a humble pawn of powerful men finding dignity amid the chessboard of Renaissance Italy’ – Gina Buonaguro, author of The Virgins of Venice
‘A delight to read… Mezzacappa has succeeded in showing the immutable workings of the human heart underlying this unforgettable story’ – Elizabeth Mac Donald, author of A Matter of Interpretation
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-maiden-of-florence/katherine-mezzacappa/9781914148507
This novel is also available in Italian from Piemme:
https://www.edizpiemme.it/libri/la-vergine-di-firenze/
The writing of The Maiden of Florence was supported by a residency at Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry, awarded by the Irish Writers Centre.
Katherine Mezzacappa 