4.0
Open LibraryAbout this book
"The story of the charismatic woman who was the inspiration behind Petrarch's sublime love poetry. Solange LeBlanc begins life in the tempestuous streets of 14th century Avignon, a city of men dominated by the Pope and his palace. When her mother, a harlot, dies in childbirth, Solange is raised by Benedictines who believe she has the gift of clairvoyance. Trained as a scribe, but troubled by disturbing visions and tempted by a more carnal life, she escapes to Avignon, where she becomes entangled in a love triangle with the poet Petrarch, becoming not only his muse but also his lover. Later, when her gift for prophecy catches the Pope's ear, Solange becomes Pope Clement VI's mistress and confidante in the most celebrated court in Europe. When the plague kills a third of Avignon's population, Solange is accused of sorcery and is forced once again to reinvent herself and fight against a final, mortal conspiracy. Muse is a sweeping historical epic that magically evokes the Renaissance, capturing a time and place caught between the shadows of the past and the promise of a new cultural awakening."--Publisher.
Themes & subjects
Avignon (France)EnglischRomanRomans, nouvellesHistoireHistory
Characters & people
Setting
Avignon (France)AvignonFrance14th century14e siecle
About the author
Mary Novik
1945
Mary Novik is the author of two novels set in the past, Conceit and Muse, in which fiction and fact are creatively mingled. Novik is engaged in an "ongoing exploration of minor characters in the lives of great figures of literature" and is part of the current boom in historical fiction in Canada. The novel Conceit (Doubleday 2007) is about Pegge Donne, the daughter of the poet John Donne. The Globe and Mail called Conceit "a magnificent novel of 17th-century London." Conceit won The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, was long-listed for the Giller, and was chosen as a book of the year by The Globe and Mail. Novik's novel Muse (Doubleday 2013) is the second in a series of works imagining "the circum…
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