Costanza by Rachel Blackmore

Book Blurb
Rome, 1636: In the scorched city of Rome, the cobbled streets hum with gossip and sin…

Costanza Piccolomini is a respectable young wife – until she meets Gianlorenzo Bernini, the famed sculptor and star of Roman society, whose jet-black gaze matches his dark temper. From the second they set eyes upon each other, a fatal attraction is born.

Their secret love burns with a passion that consumes them. But with every stolen kiss and illicit tryst, Costanza’s reputation is at stake. Meanwhile, Bernini has a dangerous desire: he wants to make Costanza immortal. He vows to possess her not just in body and soul, but also in marble.

When Bernini unveils his sculpture of Costanza, she is exposed as his lover, marking the undoing of their affair – and the beginning of a scandal which will rock Roman society. For Bernini would rather destroy Costanza than let her go.

Betrayed. Abandoned. Banished. This was meant to be the end of Costanza’s story. But Costanza is no ordinary woman: from the ashes, she will rise…

My Review
Since the beginning of the year when I first heard about Constanza I knew it would be perfect for me. I was really excited when I received an invite from Anne Cater and Renegade Books to be part of this blog tour. Set in seventeenth century Rome, the eponymous Constanza is our heroine, whose life becomes embroiled with that of Sculpter Bernini. Full of heat and passion, theirs is a story of obsession, art and resilience.

I have to admit that I didn’t know anything about Costanza, apart from seeing her sculpture in Florence by Gianlorenzo Bernini. Rachel Blackmore has brilliantly combined fact and fiction with Costanza making her a heroine you can’t help but love and admire. She moved from dutiful wife to passionate lover of one of the most famous artists of the period in Bernini. Like the marble he creates sculptures from, he brings Constanza to life, educating her on art, moulding her into his perfect woman and ultimately putting her on a pedestal from which she can only fall. She shows resilience in the face of adversity, a self belief after betrayal and still finds the beauty in life. Unfortunately for her Rome is a patriarchy and like Icarus, she flies too closely to the sun and her wings got burned.

Rachel Blackmore perfectly captures the zeitgeist of seventeenth century Rome, and masterfully takes the reader there with her descriptive prose. I felt I was experiencing Rome with the characters, seeing the different districts, the buildings, the art, as well as the heat that radiates from the city, the sounds of everyday life and the smells of the city. Rome at this period was a patriarchal city, with Pope and Church at the centre and Rachel Blackmore shows how women were at the mercy of the males in their family, for money, for a place in society, for their reputation. There are acts of sexual violence in this book, but they are dealt with care, consideration and honesty; women were seen as the seducer. I loved the heady mix of fact and fiction, that bended so seamlessly that I had to read the historical note at the end of the book to get my bearings. Rachel Blakemore’s research is impeccable into this period, and into Bernini and his work which adds to the authenticity of the story. I enjoyed looking up arts of work described as well as some of the places visited by the characters.

Costanza lived up to all my expectations and more. It is beautifully written book, with an intelligent and passionate heroine who is forging her own path in a man’s world. The next time I go to Florence I will definitely re-visit the bust of Costanza again and look upon the face of this remarkable woman. Simply stunning!