Review: Renaissance Rivals by Karen Essex
Renaissance Rivals Sequel to Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex Review: Oh, I love the Renaissance! An era full of intrigues, secrets, shifting loyalties, powerful upstarts, ruthless ambition, and murder. The politics of the time provide the perfect backdrop for a novel about two remarkable ladies of the era: Isabella d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia. I've been familiar with Lucrezia Borgia and her unhealthily ambitious family. Her father, Pope Alexander VI, pulled all the strings, and she obeyed, entering marriage after marriage at his bidding. It was a daughter's fate. I knew less about Isabella d'Este, though I'd heard of her family, so I was curious to discover the woman behind the somewhat fearsome reputation. The senior of the two by a few years, Isabella is portrayed as a woman of the world. She is highly intelligent, well-educated, cleverly manipulative, and she knows her worth. Content in her arranged marriage to Francesco Gonzaga, she enjoys wielding po...
