The Printed Page

Title: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
Author/website(s): C.W. Gortner (redesigned site which I like)
397 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: May ’10
Genre: Historical fiction
Review book or pleasure reading: Review book
New-to-me author: No
Would I recommend this book: Yes; another great book from this author
Would I read more from this author: Yes
Journal notes: Another book about Catherine de Medici. Was I courting trouble requesting a review copy of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici? I hadn’t finished reading other books about this queen I’d picked up and put down leading me to ponder: a queen I wasn’t interested in or storytelling styles that couldn’t capture my attention? After turning the last page of Confessions I’d say subject matter wasn’t the issue. In the talented storytelling style of Mr. Gortner I found her to be a very compelling individual. Mr. Gortner brings to life Catherine’s struggles to save her family and her kingdom during times of great religious strife. Of all the queens I’ve read about her story is by far the most fascinating. If you enjoyed The Last Queen, as I did, you won’t be disappointed with The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. I’m already looking forward to reading Mr. Gortner’s 2011 release of Princess Isabella, about the rise of the famous Spanish queen and the early years of her reign.

At the age of fourteen, Catherine de Medici, last legitimate descendant of the Medici blood, finds herself betrothed to the King Francois I’s son, Henri. Sent from her native Florence to France, humiliated and overshadowed by her husband’s life-long devotion to his mistress, when tragedy strikes her family Catherine rises from obscurity to become one of 16th century Europe’s most powerful women.

Patroness of Nostradamus and a seer in her own right, accused of witchcraft and murder by her foes, Catherine fights to save France and her children from savage religious conflict, unaware that her own fate looms before her — a fate that will demand the sacrifice of her ideals, her reputation, and passion of her own embattled heart.

From the splendors of the Loire palaces to the blood-soaked battles of the Wars of Religion and haunted halls of the Louvre, this is the story of Catherine’s dramatic life, told by the queen herself.

(The Confessions of Catherine de Medici was provided to me by Quinne at Ballantine Books, a division of Random House. I was not paid and this book is being passed along to the another book blogger through Read It Forward )