1560s Florence, 15-year old Lucrezia de’ Medici is married off to Duke Alfonso d’Este but after less than a year of marriage and no sign of an heir, she is convinced he means to kill her…

This one has had a lot of love, but, frankly I found it completely underwhelming, and it is easily my least favourite O’Farrell novel of the five I have read so far. O’Farrell excels at writing rich family dynamics and complex relationships, but here they are at the periphery of the story rather than the centre, and the book suffers for it - the story felt a bit thin. We know from the outset that Lucrezia suspects her husband wants to kill her, and while I was curious as to how it would play out, I never found myself on tenterhooks.

Ultimately, there was an “Italianness” missing - I think this was simply not the right story for O’Farrell. The writing felt too subdued, lacking in fire and passion. Throwing in words like palazzo, castello or consigliere doesn’t make it automatically feel Italian, it’s just shoehorning Italian words in, which is only emphasised by italicising them. Without the minutiae of everyday life or a strong sense of atmosphere, the story also didn’t feel particularly anchored in time and place - Lucrezia’s story could be unfolding in any other European noble house.

Look, it wasn’t as terrible as I am making it sound - it was fine, it’s just that in choosing this story and particular angle of telling it, O’Farrell didn’t play to her strengths, and therein lies my disappointment.

A solid, if underwhelming, historical fiction that rather lacked pizzazz.