Lucrezia Borgia

Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy

By: Sarah Bradford

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The very name Lucrezia Borgia conjures up everything that was sinister and corrupt about the Renaissance: incest, political assassination, papal sexual abuse, poisonous intrigue, unscrupulous power grabs. Yet, as best-selling biographer Sarah Bradford reveals in this breathtaking new portrait, the truth is far more fascinating than the myth. Neither a vicious monster nor a seductive pawn, Lucrezia Borgia was a shrewd, determined woman who used her beauty and intelligence to secure a key role in the political struggles of her day.

Drawing from a trove of contemporary documents and fascinating firsthand accounts, Bradford brings to life the art, the pageantry, and the dangerous politics of the Renaissance world Lucrezia Borgia helped to create.

©2004 Sarah Bradford (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A lively view of Lucrezia, capturing the glamour and tragedy of her story." ( Wall Street Journal)
"What all biographies should aspire to be: meticulously researched and exquisitely written....a tender and intimate account of a misunderstood and passionate woman." ( Elle)
"Bradford's zest for this era is contagious....makes clear the practical intelligence that proved the foundation for Lucrezia's remarkable life." - USA Today

good book and fine reader

i love history and the. borgias are well introduced into tv and so on. all i needed was real life details and was pleased with this one just for lucrezia. easy to follow and learned alot.

Could have been better....

I liked the first half of this book,but it lost steam after that.When people mention her name,they make her sound as if to have been some mean,callous horrible woman.To tell the truth,I still can't see what the big deal was about her.I listened to the entire book and all I got from it was that this was just a woman with a rich father,who ended up simply being a constant dumping ground for men's fluids until the day she died.I mean,the narrator's voice was nice with her accent and I did like hearing about general life during that period,but what has Lucrezia ever done in history that would garner anyone's interest?Maybe she's more interesting in school text books,bec it sure would take a stretch of truth to make her sound interesting.

Just Not Enough

The start of the book promised to "give back Lucrezia's voice" so I was expecting the whole book, as one might assume from reading a biography, to have her at the center which the whole thing revolves around. I was surprisingly disappointed. I felt like the story spent more time talking about what was going on with the men in her life instead of what Lucrezia herself was doing. There is probably more evidence left of their actions than of hers, but I just felt like she was a supporting character in her own biography. I've read Bradford's biography about Princess Diana and absolutely raved about it. This however was not her best work. Lastly, and I admit this may sound incredibly silly, having an American narrator really took me out of the story: her voice was fine and pace was good, but I for some reason would've preferred someone British.

The minutiae in the life of a minor Italian noble

Unfortunately, the concocted scandals and torrid (false) rumors about the life and character of Lucrezia are FAR MORE INTERESTING that the reality described in this book. The book certainly seems accurate, the author meticulous in details, but what boring details they are. Hour upon hour of the comings and goings and correspondence of everyday life of minor renaissance Italian nobility. Shopping lists, meals, marriages, petty squabbles between women, pointless personal vendettas between men, etc. Yes, she was the pope's daughter, and a pawn in his political maneuvers, but so was every other daughter of nobility. If anything, the book is a very clear window into the lives of nobles of the time, but nothing about Lucrezia herself is particularly noteworthy.