New Release Feature & Giveaway

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen was released to paperback on February 1, 2011. In honor of the release, I am re-featuring my earlier review of the book (previously posted in August 2010 and there is a giveaway of the book below.

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen
Paperback, 480 pages
Berkley Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0425238707
February 1, 2011

“A lush and compelling tale of royal intrigue and artistic longing, set in the sixteenth–century Spanish court.

The Creation of Eve is based on the true but little-known story of Sofonisba Anguissola, the first renowned female portraitist of the Renaissance. After a scandal in Michelangelo’s workshop, Sofonisba flees Italy and joins the Spanish court of King Felipe II to be a lady-in-waiting to his young bride. Sofonisba befriends the queen, only to become embroiled in a love triangle involving the queen, the king, and the king’s illegitimate half brother, Don Juan. The Creation of Eve combines art, romance, and history from the golden age in Spain in a story that asks the question: Can you ever truly know another person’s heart?”

My Review:

When I heard about this book, months before it was to be released, I knew that I just had to read it. See, I had to do a senior project on Sofonisba Anguissola about a year ago and fell in love with her story. I just had to see if it turned out to be everything that I loved about her story.

One of the things that I loved about the style of this book was the way that each segment of the story started with an “item”. These items related to what was going to happen in the chapter and were related to social commentary, art tips, quotes from famous people, etc. These were always enlightening to me about the period and the people. I also really loved the relationship between Sofie and Queen Elizabeth. It was known that they were very close and I could believe that this was how their relationship was.

On the other side of things, I was a little disappointed with the lack of descriptions of her paintings or her even painting at all. She is most known for the fabulous paintings of the Spanish court members, and the only paintings that were described were at the very beginning of the story – before she ever went to the Spanish court! She spent most of her time talking about how she would “like” to paint or how she was “going to” teach the Queen how to draw – but it was much more talk than action. I was also a little disappointed in Sofie’s demeanor. Right from the start when she meets Tiberio, she longs for him, and wishes for him, and all she thinks about is him. I just found her to be too whiny (to be realistic or believable).

Without going into detail about the ending, I will say that it was action packed right up until the very end. It was very enjoyable and exciting – and to anyone who doesn’t know about her, they would probably very much like this ending. I on the other hand, having studied her and her work in depth, found it a little too farfetched and fictional to be believable at all.

I’m going to say that overall I was more disappointed with this book than I was excited. I think if more of her artwork was included and had went a little more into her life after the Spanish court (which was where all of her real romance and love of her life occurred) I would have enjoyed it SO much more. While I enjoyed the story, it just didn’t hit it out of the park for me – but I will say that it could partially because I have researched a lot about her life.

Take this opportunity to read the first chapter and get a taste as to whether this book is for you. Lynn has also written, I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter – a YA book about, who else?, Rembrandt’s daughter. You can visit Lynn’s website to find out more about her and her works.

3 out of 5 stars.

Giveaway:

The giveaway is for one copy of the newly released paperback. Open to the USA only. The giveaway ends on February 27th and the winner will be announced the next day. Just fill out the form to enter.






Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court