First of all, let me say that The Second Duchess was a bit of a departure from my normal reading material. I read very little currently-written fiction, even less about royalty, and even less about Italian royalty. Nevertheless, having read the first chapter on the author's website my interest was piqued, and I decided to give the book a read.
The author took as inspiration Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess," and from there she has fleshed out the story of Alfonso D'Este, the 5th Duke of Ferrara, and Barbara of Austria, his second wife. The book begins with Barbara's entrance into the city of Ferrara on her wedding day. She is eager to embrace the position of duchess, with all its trappings. She has heard vague rumors about the mysterious circumstances of the death of the first duchess, but she doesn't give any of that much thought. Until she comes to Ferrara, and finds herself surrounded by reminders of the very young and very beautiful Lucrezia (the first duchess), and sinister whisperings that hint her death was not by natural causes. Barbara then begins to look at her arrogant, powerful and autocratic new husband with uncertain eyes; did he have a hand in his first wife's death? She begins to ask questions and naturally, with his spies everywhere, the duke finds out. When he whips her as punishment for disobeying his wishes that Lucrezia's life and death be forgotten, Barbara vows to fight back in the only way she can; she determines to learn the truth behind Lucrezia's death, certain this will give her power over her husband so that he will never whip her again.
Elizabeth Loupas has developed Barbara in a way that modern women can connect with. She is smart (often putting two-and-two together well ahead of her husband), and she is spirited and independent. However, these last two traits are exhibited within the confines of the society in which she lived. Barbara never flouts the authority of her husband nor of any of the other powers-that-be in her world. As such, we are given a very realistic and plausible picture of how a smart and spirited woman of 16th century Italy probably lived and adapted herself to her male-and church-dominated society. At the same time Barbara, who narrates the story (in tandem with the ghost of Lucrezia) does not hesitate to reveal her own shortcomings: her unattractiveness, her insecurity about her husband's feelings for her, her tendency to obsessive/compulsive behavior when she is distressed. This makes her real and vulnerable, and quickly wins the reader over to her.
My only real dissatisfaction with The Second Duchess was the predominance of sex, especially in the first half of the book. There are no graphic sex scenes (thank goodness, or I never would have finished the book); nevertheless, between Barbara's understandable obsession with becoming pregnant, the musings of the ghost of the nymphomaniacal Lucrezia, and the search for the duke's copy of a banned, R-rated book, Sex predominates. Although Lucrezia's reminiscences often contain vulgar and explicit terms, these are always in Italian so it is easy to breeze over them. This improves somewhat in the second half of the book as the plot turns in a somewhat different direction (I don't want to say how as that would be somewhat of a spoiler) and the investigation into Lucrezia's death occupies center stage with Sex being pushed a bit more into the background.
There is a suspense element to The Second Duchess, as the investigation into Lucrezia's death proceeds; however, it is a mild element. As the truth is gradually revealed it is easy to stay one or two steps ahead of the characters, and so as events unfold there are no real surprises.
The greatest strength of The Second Duchess is in its fine writing. Elizabeth Loupas exhibits a deftness and sophistication that is impressive in a debut work. Her descriptions of the city of Ferrara and its court, as well as the customs of the time, transport the reader effortlessly back to that time and place. She vividly describes many aspects of Renaissance royal life, both the appealing (the pageantry, the beautiful clothes, the prescribed formality of social behaviors) as well as the not-so-appealing (the almost total absence of privacy, the gruesomeness of torture). She develops the character of Barbara nicely, having her grow and change to fit into her new place, and having her relationship with her husband grow and change, as well. The character of Lucrezia is nicely done, also; she starts out as a petulant, immature and wanton young girl and she, too, changes as the story progresses. Even the duke changes somewhat although, apropo to his rank and position, he changes the least of the characters. And that the author does all this without having a single character do or say a single anachronistic thing is impressive, indeed.
The Second Duchess is a pleasing and vivid peek into the royal court of 16th century Ferrara, and of the brave, intelligent and independent woman who was briefly its duchess.
