A Rare and Curious Gift Book

A Rare and Curious Gift is a novel set in Renaissance Italy. It has great detail regarding art of the time including even the composition of paints, which is very interesting. It reveals the darker side of human nature like deception, lust, and greed. It's troubling to me that art seems to be valued above life many times. There are other troubling things as well, such as the acts of depravity including digging up dead bodies from the cemetery and using hanging victims as models for drawings.

One of the main characters, Sofanisba, while having many freedoms for a woman of her times and being what I'd consider a strong woman, is still restricted in many ways as well. She cared deeply for her father, but showed little compassion for her slave, which I imagine was probably par for the course in those times. Her character was finally more compassionate near the end, but only after having endured tragic circumstances herself.

This book definitely shows the truth in the point that tragedy can strike regardless of one's station or wealth in life. All of the characters seemed to encounter a degree of tragic circumstances in their life. It is definitely not one of those happily ever after books(I kept hoping), however, it managed to keep my interest. I kept wanting to know how things were going to turn out with the characters.