The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is historical fiction set in Medici Florence at the time of the fanatical monk Savonarola in the late fifteenth century. It is a time when art flourished and Botticelli's Venus was born.
Our story follows the life of fifteen year old Alessandra Cecchi, a young artist and daughter of a cloth merchant. Although her character is fictional, she could have been real, and the events and people all around her are taken from history. This story is about her own birth into womanhood and her stuggles against the conventions of the times.
Dunant weaves a captivating story of art and sin, decadence and piety, at a time when everyone was struggling to understand man's place in relation to God, and art was at once widely revered by many and actively denounced as decadent by others.
Although there are some flaws in the novel, (I didn't quite believe the ending) I found it captivating nonetheless, and it does a great job of bringing fifteenth century Florence alive.
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