I read Diane Heager's Courtesan and was spellbound. The Ruby Ring is even better.
A must-read for any historical fiction buff. ( )

The Ruby Ring by Diane Haeger is the story of Margherita Luti, a bakers daughter, and Raphael Sanzio, the influential and popular artist. The book opens in 1514 as these two meet on a Roman street and he becomes convinced that she is the model that he has been looking for. At first resistant to the idea of posing, she is eventually persuaded. They fall in love and she becomes immortalized in many of his paintings. But there is no happy ending for these two as there are powerful people who want to have control over this artist and his works. When Raphael dies in 1520, she is alone, an outcast and being persecuted by her enemies. Seeking refuge in a convent, she is told that she cannot stay unless she gives up to the church the ruby ring that has become a symbol of their love.

This is the story of a great passion, both for each other and for the art. Set in the rich and colorful world of the Italian Renaissance, The Ruby Ring should have been a stunning book that totally captures the reader’s emotions, but instead, I was left feeling rather bored by this slow moving story. I have read Diane Haeger before and always have enjoyed the books she has written, but this one left me cold. The author appeared to have written The Ruby Ring as a love story and my feeling is that since the love affair was the center of her novel, she should have given her story more emotion and her characters more depth. A love story means nothing if the reader doesn’t care about the lovers.

I think it is very telling that I had a hard time staying awake whenever I tried to read it. Unfortunately, The Ruby Ring will be a book that won’t be long remembered. ( )

I did like this book overall; it was an interesting depiction of the time period and the perks and hazards of being a great painter with commissions that need to be done especially when these commissions are from the Pope himself. As with other artists I’ve read about, Raphael became a bit obsessed with Margherita at the detriment to his work. I did feel bad for them in the end because of all the interference in their lives also the way Margherita was treated by these men in Raphael’s life especially while Raphael was on his death bed, they all knew how much Raphael loved this woman but they were so evil to her. The more I read on this time period the less respect I have for these supposed clerics, they were the biggest schemers and frauds of them all and were able to get away with it because they were clerics.

I wish there had been more of the rivalry between Raphael, da Vinci & Michelangelo, I found this an interesting side story and wish there had been more of it. I am not a big fan of romance novels and there were times when the romance of these two had me rolling my eyes and hoping to get on with more plot and less romance. Again, as I read about this time period the church sure had their hand in everything from who Raphael could marry and who he couldn’t. But when you are betrothed to a Cardinal’s niece who has the ear of the De Medici Pope I guess they have a bit of a vested interest in your life, especially when you are spending more time with your model/mistress than you are on finishing the project for the Pope.

This did make me do some research and with the portrayal of Cardinal Bibbiena I was very surprised to see he was a comedy writer? What? He sure didn’t seem to have a sense of humor in this book he was pretty despicable. I also found the painting The Betrothal of Raphael and the Niece of Cardinal Bibbiena by, painter Jacques-Louis David which showed that some of the facts were there but when reading the description it said that the likeness of Maria the cardinal's niece was inspired by an image of a woman once identified as Raphael's mistress, called "La Fornarina"., so it made me wonder if that was really Margherita. As I have said in other reviews of historical fiction if a book makes me want to do research about the people or places than it did a good job of engaging me.

Elizabeth Wiley’s narration was good if a bit over the top at times, some characters had a more pronounced accent than others but I believe she was trying to convey the characters personality. One voice that just rubbed me the wrong way because of the accent and key was the nuns voice it was too high and shrill, Maria’s voice was annoying too. But either I got used to the narration or Elizabeth got into a rhythm and became more comfortable with the accents as I felt they got better the longer I listened. By the end of the book I was enjoying her narration and thought she did well at transitioning between the Italian accents and the narrative with her regular voice. I would seek out other books narrated by Elizabeth Wiley.

3 ½ Stars

***Full disclosure I received this audiobook from The Solid Gold Reviewers Program at Audiobookjukebox.com*** ( )

This was a very enjoyable read. I picked it up for a bit of light summer reading. I was instantly drawn in by the characters in the novel and their depth and dimension. This novel addresses an individual I have not read about in previous historical fiction novels which can tend to cover only a few time frames. ere we read about the love between the Italian painter Raphael and a baker's daughter, a sort of Cinderella story of 16th century Rome. Overall a great read. ( )

Ok, now that I am done I must admit it was a good read! I had to give it a chance! This is historical fiction, based on the life of the painter Raphael. It's about his forbidden love affair with the woman he loved & could never be with. Sad story! ( )