The Marchesa

By: Sarah Dunant

Narrated by: Sarah Dunant

A bold novel history of "the first lady of the Renaissance."

From the acclaimed author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan comes a vibrant exploration of the Italian Renaissance through the character of Isabella d’Este, the first female art collector and patron of her time. Her famed collection has long since dispersed or been lost, but what remains is her correspondence–thousands of letters preserved in a deconsecrated church and convent in the archive of Mantua.

Here, Isabella’s ghost lies waiting for the right scholar to give voice to her story. Together they resurrect a remarkable life: from the precocious daughter of a Duke and teenage wife to a Marquis, to a formidable court consort, patron, fashion icon, art collector and political operator, guiding the state of Mantua through the vicissitudes of war.

The Marchesa is Renaissance history at its most vivid, an immersive, multi-layered experience that mixes historical fiction with biography, scholarship and imagery, of both the people and the time. It is also a meditation on our attitude to history itself, challenging how far we can set aside our own values and certainties when it comes to understanding those in the past who grew out of very different cultural soil.

©2025 Sarah Dunant (P)2025 Sarah Dunant

Critic reviews

‘An utterly fascinating portrayal of a formidable and brilliant woman wielding power in the complex turmoil of the political landscape of Renaissance Italy – a woman who is irrepressible even in death.’ Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Hera

Clever and Biting and Fresh

I couldn’t stop listening to the Marchesa, telling her story with such vigor and determination. And the framing—with this perfectly meddlesome woman being so attuned to the scholar researching her, well that was an unexpected delight. Well done. I’m going to have to buy the hardcover for the promised color pictures.