Costanza – Rachel Blackmore

Published By: Renegade Books
Pages: 432
Released On: 01/08/2024

Rome, 1636. History calls her a Muse. Temptress. Fallen woman. This is her story.

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…

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Renegade Books for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

Total “judging a book by its cover” with this one! Look how gorgeous she is! I have been so excited about this book.

This is a story I knew nothing about. Part of me feels I must have heard about Matteo Bonuccelli and Gianlorenzo Bernini, and in turn, Costanza, at some point, especially as I used to really be into art, but nope, nothing. Which meant I could come into this with a blank slate, with no knowledge or expectation.

Rachel immediately takes us into this world. I’ve been to Rome once, many years ago, and I don’t remember much of it, other than the fact it rained nearly every day and I wasn’t a huge fan of the city, but the way she has described it means I can picture 1636 Rome far easier than the early noughties Rome.

You can see the hours of research Rachel must have put into this book. I’m still in the research stage o my own book and I’ve often thought whether it’s actually worth it all, but this proves it. You really get a feeling for the time and place and people, you can really get the idea that Rachel is an expert in her area and that then makes the story beautiful.

It is a bit slow to begin with, but I’m not sure that’s a negative. For me anyway, it really helped lead me into the story, gave me time to get invested in the lead characters and their situation, so that when the s*** hits the fan later on, you really care for the characters and the outcome. There are some slower moments later on in the novel. Not a deal breaker, not a huge issues, and I still really, really, really liked it, but there were just a few occasions I wanted to get to the crux of things a bit quicker, but it didn’t affect the enjoyment of the book.

It angers me all this talk in books about how women were treated. I know this is set in the 1600s and the power balance between sexes is completely different, but it doesn’t make for easy reading, and whilst Rachel hasn’t made it too OTT, she hasn’t hidden away from it either.

I love the strong women Rachel has created. It’s tough for them, but Costanza especially definitely seems ahead of her time, speaking out, back-chatting to me, being overly familiar with men, walking unaccompanied. It all sounds normal now, but for that time it was very provocative. But she’s not shy about it. And in her strength lies the strength of others, building them up and helping them when they fall back down.

I believe this is Rachel’s debut historical novel and it really is promising. I’ve read a lot – A LOT – of historical novels recently. Set in the 1600s-1800s, strong women in difficult situations, love affairs etc. and actually, quite a lot set in Italy come to think of it. And I’m sure that eventually I will get bored of them, or authors will run out of stories to tell, but this is just different enough to be original and enjoyable, unlike anything else I’ve read before.

Rachel is clearly a born storyteller, she’s passionate about her creation, about these characters, about doing them justice; she’s aware these are real people with real lives and they deserve to have their stories told, and you can feel that love in the writing.

I really, really enjoyed it. And whilst it was all good to read, the last third of it was my favourite. It’s not always nice or easy to read, it gets uncomfortable, but it’s so raw and brutal and honest and passionate that it was impossible not to be moved by it – by the plot but also Rachel’s way of writing it.

Taking everything into account, this is a fabulous historical debut, with great characters (even if they’re not always comfortable to read about), vivid locations, expert storytelling, with the odd pacing issues, but I could barely face putting it down, so keen was I to see how it ended.