Thursday, August 27, 2020

Ten top books about Florence

Christobel Kent was born in London and grew up in London and Essex, including a stint on the Essex coast on a Thames barge with three siblings and four step-siblings, before reading English at Cambridge. She has worked in publishing and TEFL teaching, and has lived in Modena, in northern Italy, and in Florence.

Kent is the author of The Viper, the latest in the Florentine Sandro Cellini series and Sunday Times bestseller The Loving Husband, among other thrillers.

At the Guardian she tagged ten of her favorite books about Florence, including:
The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici by Christopher Hibbert

The history of Florence is inextricable from the story of the ruthless, brilliant family that drove it to prominence and dominated its politics for 300 years, and Hibbert’s history is tremendous: informative, exciting and involving. With its vivid character sketches and gossipy detail of pageants, poisonings, art, sex and architecture, it adds depth and dimension to even the most casual stroll through the city. The Folio Society’s edition has a deliciously patrician introduction by Harold Acton.
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue