Today it's my turn and the last stop on the BlogTour The Woman in the Painting by Kerry Postle.
About the Author
Kerry loves art, history and literature. In her debut novel, 'The Artist's Muse', she explores the artist Egon Schiele's relationship with his model Wally Neuzil and shows that it isn't only Schiele's paintings of Wally that shimmer and shock.
Kerry's second novel, 'A Forbidden Love', is set during the Spanish Civil War and tells a rousing and ultimately uplifting story: that when war has taken everything away from us we are still left with our humanity.
With the author's third novel, 'The Woman in the Painting', she returns to the world of art. Set in Rome at the start of the 16th century the author shares with us the heartbreaking story behind the artist Raphael's portrait of his lover, Margarita Luti. Known as 'The Baker's Daughter', this portrait hides a secret...
For more about Kerry Postle visit http://frockfriday.co.uk/. For links to the paintings and literature that inspired her first novel go to https://theartistsmuseblog.wordpress.com
Follow @kerry_postle on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Buy The Woman in the Painting
A celebrated artist. A baker’s daughter. A love that will change everything. 1508. In Rome, artists are feted as gods, and women must know their place.
Margarita may be the modest daughter of a baker, but when she falls in love with painter Raphael she finds herself playing a dangerous game.
For Raphael is wanted for greater things than a humble marriage, and there are those who will do anything to keep him and Margarita apart – no matter the consequences…
Pietro is an interesting narrator, perhaps because it is hard to feel any empathy towards him - at least for the majority of the story. He is a target because of his sexual preferences, his family pretends he doesn't exist and he is usually one step away from complete destitution.
Now all of those things might make the audience feel sympathy towards him now and again. Poor Pietro with the speech impediment, everyone makes fun of him. Poor Pietro indeed. One wonders if he spent time polishing his thirty pieces of silver.
His love and obsession play a pivotal part in the story of Margarita, the lowborn daughter of a baker who refuses to be bought or sold like chattel. She becomes the object of inspiration for some of the most well-known painters of Italian Renaissance. Men creating works of art which still inspire and captivate the world many centuries after creation.
It's historical fiction inspired by a true story. A tale of art, passion, love, but most of all it is a story of deceit.
I really enjoyed the way Postle never veered from Pietro, his point of view and ultimately his influence over the events. It doesn't merely become a tragic tryst and battle of passionate endeavours or about navigating the egocentric and narcissistic traits of the most powerful. When you break it down it is about the subtle whispers spoken in rage or jealousy, and remaining silent and doing nothing when you should step in to change to the tide of opinion.
It's an exceptional and well crafted story.
Buy The Woman in the Painting at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ Digital; pub date 22 May 2020. Buy at Amazon com.
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