The author, historian and broadcaster chooses her favourite books. Her latest book is "The Marchesa", a biographical novel that tells the story of Isabella d'Este, the first female art collector of the Renaissance.
Nuns Behaving Badly
The erudite musicologist unearthed these delicious stories from 16th and 17th century court records. My favourite concerns a Venetian abbess who sneaks out to the opera with a local priest.
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Dangerous Liaisons
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, 1782
Written in decadent pre-revolutionary France, this erotically charged epistolary novel features a manipulative woman working under the surface of polite society. It occasioned a brilliant stage adaptation and two substantial movies. What writer could ask for more?
How to be a Renaissance Woman
Jill Burke, 2023
Burke delivers an equally entertaining and serious analysis of the business of Renaissance beauty. From early bras and disgusting skin-whitening concoctions to primitive cosmetic surgery, it delivers a warning to the future that whatever the gains of feminism, our obsession with "beauty" remains as defining as who we are.
The Return of Martin Guerre
Natalie Zemon Davis, 1982
Long before photos and fingerprints, "knowing" someone depended largely on memory. This majestically close reading of court records by the great micro historian tells a tale of contested identity in a 16th century French village, and gave the now disgraced Gérard Depardieu one of his most beguiling roles. A quiet masterpiece in print and on film.
Angèlique
Sergeanne Golon, 1957-1985
Everyone has a guilty secret in their literary past. Mine is a set of bodice rippers featuring an irresistible heroine in the court of Louis XIV. As ravished as she was ravishing, Angèlique was no proto feminist. But inside the romantic tosh was a scintillating picture of French history. At 13 I was hooked and never looked back.
Titles available at The Week Bookshop
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Wuthering Heights: ‘wildly fun’ reinvention of the classic novel lacks depthTalking Point Emerald Fennell splits the critics with her sizzling spin on Emily Brontë’s gothic tale
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Why the Bangladesh election is one to watchThe Explainer Opposition party has claimed the void left by Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League but Islamist party could yet have a say
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The world’s most romantic hotelsThe Week Recommends Treetop hideaways, secluded villas and a woodland cabin – perfect settings for Valentine’s Day
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6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
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Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
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Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time
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American Psycho: a ‘hypnotic’ adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis classicThe Week Recommends Rupert Goold’s musical has ‘demonic razzle dazzle’ in spades
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Properties of the week: houses near spectacular coastal walksThe Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, Devon and Northumberland
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Melania: an ‘ice-cold’ documentaryTalking Point The film has played to largely empty cinemas, but it does have one fan
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Nouvelle Vague: ‘a film of great passion’The Week Recommends Richard Linklater’s homage to the French New Wave
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Wonder Man: a ‘rare morsel of actual substance’ in the Marvel UniverseThe Week Recommends A Marvel series that hasn’t much to do with superheroes
