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Title details for Lucia by Andrea di Robilant - Available

Lucia

A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon

by Andrea di Robilant
Stephen Hoye
Audiobook
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In 1787, Lucia, the beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter of a prominent Venetian statesman, is married off to Alvise Mocenigo, scion of one of the most powerful Venetian families. But their life as a golden couple will be suddenly transformed when Venice falls to Bonaparte. As the larger events unfolding around Lucia mingle with her most personal concerns, we witness—through her letters to her sister and other primary sources—her painful series of miscarriages and the pressure on her to produce an heir; her impassioned affair with an Austrian officer and its stunning results; the glamour and strain of her career as a hostess in Hapsburg Vienna and lady-in-waiting at the court of Napoleon's stepson, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, as well as her intimate relationship with the Empress Joséphine; and her amazing firsthand account of the defeat of Napoleon in Paris in 1814. In her later years, Lucia, regal and still beautiful and a bit battle-hardened herself, was Byron's landlord during the poet's stay in Venice. In a fitting finale to this sweeping drama, Lucia stands as a relic of a lost golden age: she created, in part, the aura that gave rise to the Romantic view of Italy and its culture that we still nourish today.


With the brave and articulate Lucia at the center of his re-creation of this remarkable historical period, Andrea di Robilant has once again reached across the centuries, and deep into his own past, to bring history to rich and vivid life on the page.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 28, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400127054
      • File size: 342056 KB
      • Duration: 11:52:36

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The wild mix of battles, intrigues, corruption, and romantic dalliances that was Venice during the Napoleonic era is captured in Andrea di Robilant's reconstruction of the life of his distant relative, Lucia. A member of the nobility, Lucia was a minor player in and astute observer and chronicler of the politics, upheaval, and grandeur of this time period. Di Robilant cleverly combines the broader historic picture with the narrower window onto daily life that Lucia's letters provide. Narrator Stephen Hoye is an excellent choice to carry the sweep of this historical drama. In addition to handling Italian phrases and names comfortably, his impressive and convincing range of emotion and inflection makes this sprawling narrative clear and easy to follow. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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