Drag...drag... ( )

After enjoying a couple other L'Heureux books over the years, I found The Medici Boy disappointing: the medieval setting worked, the guilt/sin threads worked, and I could feel the heat of the fires and summer sun. But the book plodded and I think that's largely because it felt a bit too inhabited by L'Heureux's research and the pouring of statues... to the detriment of the characters, who felt a little too empty. On the plus side: there is plague, a fascination of mine. ( )

Set in fifteenth century Florence, this novel is written as a confession and memoir by Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant to the great artist Donatello. Luca writes about living in the infamously sinful city of Florence and about the intimate details of life in Donatello's workshop. A collision of politics, art, and forbidden passions, this is a tale full of secrets and an inside look at the persecution of great men for the personal gain of others. As Donatello creates his famous bronze David, his passion for his young model leads him dangerously close to personal ruin. Luca will do anything to protect the honor and life of his master, but at what cost to himself?

Bettina P. / Marathon County Public Library
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This period of time in art history fascinates me. This book is about the premier sculptor, Donatello, his model and the wretchedly homophobic milieu that surrounded them in Florence and then Padua. Well written and researched, it serves as a fascinating fictional biography about a great man who struggles with loving the less than lovable. ( )

I read very few novels set in the Middle Ages and Renaissance because I have to keep fact checking. From all the mid-century historical novels, as a history major I became rather disgusted with the lack of authentic research.
This, however, is different. I was drawn to the 1400s in Florence as the Medicis fought to gain control of that city state. Luca, a long-time assistant to the great sculptor, Donatello, will risk anything to save his beloved master from the religious and civic forces. Florence had a reputation of sodomy and the punishment could be severe, up to being dragged through the streets and providing the masses with great entertainment as the sodomite was burned at the stake.
Luca, once tried the monastery, but was deemed unfit. Luca marries a prostitute whom he loves and bears him sons. But he worries about Donatello, worried about the unscrupulous but beautiful male model who is like a drug for the homosexual artist.
I found myself engrossed from the beginning of this moving and fascinating view of 15th century Florence. It struck me that had the Koch Brothers lived then, they would have just bought the whole city government instead of politicians. ( )