drey's library

I will confess right up front that the cover here probably wouldn't have prompted me to pick up the book. And that would've been my loss, because then I would've missed out on this lovely book.The Miracles of Prato opens with a birthing that is followed quickly by the baby's removal from his mother's side. From that heart-wrenching scene, we go back to the beginning of the story of two unlikely lovers--a Carmelite monk and a novitiate.It is 1456. Fra Filippo Lippi is a Carmelite monk known for his art as much as for his impetuousness. In the midst of several unfinished commissions, he is struck by the beauty of a newly-arrive novitiate at the Convent Santa Margherita, and starts painting her as the Madonna in his works.Lucrezia Buti's life is turned upside-down when her father dies, and she ends up at the convent with her sister Spinetta. Trying to reconcile her prior privileged life with the stark austerity of the convent is difficult for Lucrezia, and she's heartened when she learns of a painter living nearby.In a world where women's fates balance precariously on the whims of man, The Miracles of Prato unveils a story of love amidst greed and covetousness, a story where one man's love is hopefully strong enough to save one woman's future. Set in the restrictive world of the Renaissance church, this one's for fans of historical fiction and those curious about the artists--and the artwork--of the time.