I thoroughly enjoyed this imaginative portrayal of what Leonardo da Vinci's mother could have been like and what raising such a genious would have entailed. Maxwell's writing is very descriptive and evocative of time and place. The plot was strong and the historical details felt very alive.
The novel focuses on the life of Catarina, a young peasant woman who has a child out of wedlock (Leonardo) by one of the village's gentry. Her child is taken away after birth and she fights the rest of her life to maintain contact and influence over Leonardo. When Leonardo is apprenticed in Florence, she disguises herself as a man and opens an apothecary in that city so that she can remain close to him. She falls in love with Lorenzo de Medici and helps influence politics and social reform during her time.
In the questions to the author section at the end of the book, Maxwell says that the reader will have to suspend disbelief at some of the things she does with her heroine. I agree, but I find that's what is so interesting and fun about reading historical novels, which I have come to believe is my favorite genre.
My only real complaint about the novel is that there weren't any dates as guideposts, and that would have been helpful, especially at the end of the book when years passed between chapters and it was difficult to tell.
Highly recommended to those who like historical fiction who don't expect it to be written "from the texts."...especially since there are so few texts about women in the 15th century!
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