The Devil & Maria D'avalos

By Victoria Hammond and David Bowles

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1741146852
• ISBN13: 9781741146851
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

As Good as They Get

This is a historical novel that's in the first ranks of historical novels - about as far from the sloppily-researched, cringeworthy sort as you can get. Perhaps that's not surprising, given that the author is an art historian who travelled to Italy to research it. It's also based on a true story: the murder in 1590 of the illustrious Neapolitan aristocrat Maria d'Avalos by her demented genius of a husband, the composer Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa. According to the preface, Hammond's interest in Maria was sparked by a Werner Herzog documentary about Gesualdo (presumably Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices - a film by Werner Herzog). Gesualdo was, however, Maria's third husband, and in her past were two other arranged marriages, and a tragic and triumphant life as one of the most prominent Neapolitan women of her day. Hammond tells her story rivetingly, and anyone interested in historical novels and/or the sixteenth century would be well advised not to miss it.