The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia - C. W. Gortner Audiobook

Written by C. W. Gortner
Read by Julia Whelan
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: February 9, 2016
Duration: 16:03:17

Author C. W. Gortner effortlessly weaves history and drama in this captivating novel about one of the world’s most notorious families. Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized fifteenth-century Renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival?

With the ascension of the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, a new era has dawned in Rome. Benefiting from their father’s elevation are the new pope’s illegitimate children—his rival sons, Cesare and Juan, and beautiful young daughter Lucrezia—each of whom assumes an exalted position in the papal court. Privileged and adored, Lucrezia yearns to escape her childhood and play a part in her family’s fortunes. But Rome is seductive and dangerous: Alliances shift at a moment’s notice as Italy’s ruling dynasties strive to keep rivals at bay.

As Lucrezia’s father faces challenges from all sides, the threat of a French invasion forces him to marry her off to a powerful adversary. But when she discovers the brutal truth behind her alliance, Lucrezia is plunged into a perilous gambit that will require all her wits, cunning, and guile. Escaping her marriage offers the chance of happiness with a passionate prince of Naples, yet as scandalous accusations of murder and incest build against her, menacing those she loves, Lucrezia must risk everything to overcome the lethal fate imposed upon her by her Borgia blood.

Beautifully wrought, rich with fascinating historical detail, The Vatican Princess is the first novel to describe Lucrezia’s coming-of-age in her own voice. What results is a dramatic, vivid tale set in an era of savagery and unparalleled splendor, where enemies and allies can be one and the same, and where loyalty to family can ultimately be a curse.

“C.W. … Julia Whelan does a marvelous job narrating this first-person account of Lucrezia’s controversial life. Gortner paints Lucrezia as being apart from but ultimately doomed by the infamous actions of her father and brothers. Whelan’s performance hits all the right emotional notes to convey Gortner’s sympathetic picture of this much used and abused woman. Gortner does not skip over the more outrageous rumors about Lucrezia, which circulate to this day, but instead shows how they may have erroneously come into being. Whelan’s open and honest portrayal means the listener remains firmly on Lucrezia’s side, even when she makes horrendous mistakes.”….AudioFile