The Italian Garden [Hardcover]

Judith Lennox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

When the political machinations, artistic splendor, and sexism of Renaissance Italy frustrate Joanna Zulian's ambition to paint, she finds an outlet in creating four gardens of love, evoking Tenderness, Jealousy, Passion, and Obsession, emotions essential to her life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Subtly feminist and quite literate, this historical romance follows the entwined 16th-century lives of artistic, independent beauty Joanna Zulian and haunted, ambitious mercenary Toby Crow. After her mother dies, young, half-wild Joanna is left with her father's brother, a proper Venetian artist. Though she becomes a talented painter in her own right, she is thwarted by her gender. Her looks prove both boon and bane, dragging her into ever-higher social circles and attracting men who will see in her variously a muse, lover, pawn and obsession. Joanna later memorializes their emotions in the eponymous garden, which she divides into four squares planted with flowers appropriate to jealous, passionate, tender and obsessive love. Toby tries to escape his tormented past by becoming a soldier of fortune, but only Joanna's re-entry into his life and a surprising discovery about his birth can finally exorcise his demons. Lennox ( Till the Day Goes Down ) has a fine sense for the details of daily Renaissance life and its political, psychological and philosophical underpinnings; she also develops and employs secondary characters with admirable skill. A cut above the genre norm, this is a good choice for readers with better-than-average taste.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Lennox has artfully fashioned a lush narrative steeped in authentic historical detail and brimming with bittersweet romance. Abandoned by her loving but unstable father after the death of her mother, young Joanna Zulian comes of age amid the political and military turmoil of sixteenth-century Venice. Though her indifferent uncle exploits her undeniable artistic talent within the confines of his successful studio, he refuses to acknowledge and nurture her ambition to become an accomplished artist in her own right. With poignant youthful regret, Joanna casts aside her impractical dream and resolves to carve out an appealing life for herself in a more socially acceptable manner. As a wife, a mistress, and a mother, she attempts to define her own destiny in an increasingly hostile public and personal environment. A mesmerizing portrait of an extraordinary Renaissance woman. Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 470 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312098103
• ISBN-13: 978-0312098100
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,025,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNFORGETABLE!!, January 14, 2004

By 

"shadowwolfen" (Cherryfield, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Italian Garden (Hardcover)

I first read a copy of this book five years ago and have been looking for a copy of my own ever since. I searched in every used book that I came upon, to no avail.
I am so glad that I have discovered Amazon's used marketplace and will now be able to put this book on my own bookshelf, where it belongs.