Maggie O’Farrell’s last two novels have been works of historical fiction that deal with heavy topics. In Hamnet, it was the death of William Shakespeare’s young son from the plague, and in The Marriage Portrait it is the death of the 15-year-old Duchess of Ferrara, Lucrezia de’Medici, thought to have been murdered by her own husband. O’Farrell is a master of foreboding, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat while waiting for the horrid event to occur. And yet, despite the fact that […]