Venus - and other women

I confess I am not very fond of historical novels. In fact, I think most authors tend to show you how well they know the subject rather than using infos as a simple background for stories which need to be told.

However, when a very good friend of mine suggested I should read The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant, I decided to accept, main reason being I didn�t want to disappoint her. Plus, she had spoken so well of the novel that I was quite curious to know how the book was really like.

The book, set in Renaissance Florence, opens with a couple of nuns having to sort things out for the funeral of one of their sisters, Alessandra. We are told that, as a general rule, none of them can look at naked bodies (theirs included) therefore these two have been given a special permission to do so. When that happens, they find something unexpected: the painting of a snake all over their sister's body. The face of the snake is that of a man...

From this moment on, we are thrown into Alessandra's life before she became a nun. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a fighter. Basically, she played all the roles every woman does, but quite often with very hard-to-digest extras. For example, I was almost in tears when she discovers that her newly-wed husband, Cristoforo, has a secret: he's been dating her brother and won't ever be able to love her the way a husband should. They will talk, befriend each other...and have sex only a couple of times so that she gets pregnant and people do not get suspiciuos...

Is this the life she wanted or dreamt of? Of course not! Still, she didn�t even imagine to find herself in love with a young artist, nor to face the consequences of such a "mistake"...

I loved this book because it is well written and history has a part in it but is not the protagonist. Characters are believable, especially in regards to the relationship between one another: Alessandra and Erila, Alessandra and her mother, Alessandra and Plautilla...

The only/main problem I found is that I sometimes had the feeling modern age, ideas, opinions, views were popping up too strongly in a book set in a different time, age...frame of mind...but I want to read the other (historical) novels from Dunant to understand if that�s just my own impression or a mistake she made.

PS: I haven't added links and a number of other details yet: I apologise for this but am having problems with that -or, simply, I am not that expert. I am really sorry and I am trying my best to sort this out. Help appreciated indeed;-)