ofia Barducci is a teenager being brought up in 14th century San Gimignano by her artist father. A young woman with great artistic skill her father trains her to paint. She marries, initially for love, but the marriage itself is ill-fated and after her father dies she flees to Siena, where disguised as a boy she seeks to paint once more.

Thoughts
Overall both the historical and geographical elements of the novel are really very strong. Carol M Cram does an exceptional job of painting a compelling version of the Tuscan cities and countryside of the period.
Having visited San Gimignano which now has only a few of the towers still standing I felt I could perfectly envisage Sofia’s view of the city with work underway building and extending the towers as they headed towards their peak. It was not only the landscape that seemed so well researched and perfectly painted (no pun intended!). The descriptions of producing paints and colours were incredibly detailed and vivid and also the specifics of preparing to paint and the different styles in use really did bring this important part of Renaissance European life to life. Whilst not a political novel I also really enjoyed the implicit and occasionally explicit insight into the alliance building, vendetta ridden reality of the City states that littered Italy at this time alongside the impact and fear of illness.

In the abstract Sofia is exactly the kind of main protagonist I like. She is a strong woman not afraid to push for what she believes in, whether it be the approval to make a love match or to pursue a career where women were very rare. Her tale is one rife with conflict; from seeing the reality of her love match fade as she starts to understand the abusive nature of her husband, the challenges of her dalliance with a wealthier merchant and her drive to paint both for personal satisfaction but also for financial stability. This alongside the rich historical detail should have had me rating this book four / five stars. Unfortunately, I really did not like Sofia. I found her single minded and full of ego. I think this was a conscious decision to present her as a highly strong artistic type but this plus the fact that she was decidedly lacking in empathy for anyone just made her unlikable to me. Throughout the novel she makes a number of bad decisions with seemingly little remorse or personal growth to the extend that I really was not routing for her at all.
A real shame although there was enough her that I’d try the other novel from this author

I greatly enjoyed this novel featuring a female painter, Sofia Barducci, from 14th century San Gimignano. Because of her sex, it cannot be known that she paints, and her works fulfil commissions charged to her father's workshop. When we join the novel, she is married to Giorgio Carelli and has to paint in secret as he disapproves (her work with her father takes place in flashback sections). Tragedy of various sorts ensues, betrayals and murders, and Sofia flees her hometown and settles in Siena, disguised as a young boy so as to paint in the workshop of Luca Manzini, a friend of her father's. Further drama ensues (I won't give spoilers here), capped by the tragedy of the black death descending on the cities and towns of Tuscany. The novel also contains many lovely descriptions of the Tuscan countryside and brought back to my mind several great holidays I spent there in the 1990s. If I had a (minor) criticism, it would be that there are sometimes slightly too many technical descriptions of the mixing of paints and preparations of panels, etc., but they do at least show the complexity of the painter's art and the degree of patience it required. ( )

I’m pretty ambivalent on this book. I adored the details on the ins and outs of medieval painting in 1330’s Italy; some of the historical details I got were lovely. But that main character really needs to be go.

The author did an incredible job at world-building and got the details right for her main character’s chosen profession. From the smaller details on how painting armor was done to the massively labor intensive work that went into one simple panel, I was kept spellbound by this world of color and design. The emerging world of Renaissance painting came to life under this author’s pen with wonderful detail.

However, the author lost me quickly with her main character. I admired Sofia’s passion for painting and her spunk in actually going through with cross-dressing to be able to paint. But that’s where my liking the main character ended and quickly. She’s brash, stuck-up, and frankly a bitch. I felt that she was only focused on her art and being able to do it; God protect the poor fools who were trying to help her hide her identity so she could do so. She didn't appreciate them at all. In one scene in particular that I remember, she actually bemoans the fact that a character has “abandoned” her as he fights for his life against brigands. WTF?!

I think in the end the book evens out to somewhere in the middle. The author does a good job in showcasing the emerging world of Italian Renaissance painting and in describing the grueling work to create such beauty. However, I felt she fell off the cliff in her characterization department. I enjoyed some of the secondary characters, but Sofia just needs to fall off that same cliff… It was a good read but I don’t feel I’d recommend it unless you’re very hard up for medieval/Renaissance Italy historical fiction.

Note: Book received for free from publisher via GoodReads First Reads program in exchange for honest review. ( )

Loving Italy as I do I had to read this book. What a delight it turned out to be. It follows the life of Sofia, daughter of artist Antonio Barducci and wife of Giorgio Carelli and her journey to paint in a time where it was illegal for women to do so. After her fathers death, she escapes her life in San Gimignano to Sienna where she passes herself of as a boy so that she can paint freely. Sophia falls in love with a patron who guesses her secret. Just when life seems perfect her husband turns up to force her to return home. Sophia battles a loveless marriage, children and eventually the plague in this story. The historical background is flawless, although Sophia herself is a fictitious character. This is a really well told story and it was a pleasure to read. ( )

Overall, I enjoyed reading this, even though I didn't like any of the characters and they felt rather flat despite great potential. It was also a bit disconcerting for me that all these characters just appeared and disappeared somewhat randomly, without much development in their relationship with Sofia...but on the other hand, maybe that's closer to real life than a novel. The description of the plague was powerful, and that's what sticks with me the most, in addition to the techniques of painting and the general violence of the day. ( )