Lucrezia, 3rd daughter of Cosimo Medici, is a wonderful character, married at 15 to the 'janus' Duke of ferrara she is vibrant child full of life. It is the knowledge that this is a tale built around her fate that she will killed by her husband that creates the emotional impact of this wonderful book. When i rd her encounter with a tiger, I was hooked with the story + prose style. The ending is sad but offers an idea of what might have been