The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi

Grazia dei Rossi #1

by Jacqueline Park

The "secret book" of the title--or libro segreto, in the old Florentine manner--is the detailed account of Grazia dei Rossi's exciting and turbulent life, written so that her son might know his legacy. Inspired by a letter written centuries ago by a young Jewish woman to Isabella d'Este, The Secret Book of Grazia is a rich and complex work of fiction. This historical novel brings to life the sublime art, political corruption, and religious intolerance of 16th-century Florence from a rarely explored vantage point: the complicated symbiosis between Christian and Jew. Grazia dei Rossi, educated daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, has fallen in love with a young Christian nobleman. Forced to choose between her love and her faith, she chooses love. But her betrothed is whisked away by kinsmen, and the humiliated Grazia is ruined--until fate throws her another chance in the guise of a second marriage proposal, this one from the powerful Judah del Medigo, scholar, physician, and adviser to popes and kings. Under his guardianship, Grazia flourishes as a scholar and scribe, eventually becoming the secretary to Isabella d'Este, where she reenters the world of courts and courtiers.

And that's just the beginning; Park blends scholarship, imagination, and a compelling heroine to serve up good, old-fashioned literary stew, thick with the irresistible details of place, plottings, and passions.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Italy, Historical, Romance, Jewish, Renaissance

580 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Born Jacqueline Rosen in Winnipeg in 1925, she grew up during the harsh years of the Depression. Park has very clear recollections of that uncertain time which left deep scars.

Park is the founding chairman of the Dramatic Writing Program and professor emerita at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Park is an acclaimed novelist, currently working on the third installment of a three-part literary saga that began with The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, a remarkable 15th-century Italian Jewish woman, and continues with newly published The Legacy of Grazia dei Rossi, about the travails of Grazia’s son in the court of the Ottoman ruler, Suleiman the Great.

The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, published in 1997, became an acclaimed, international bestseller. But Park, then 72, was not finished writing. “I came from television,” she said, “where the motto is: Always leave room for a sequel.”

Park lives in Toronto.

Reviews

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite novel of all time, Grazia is the daughter of a Jewish banker in Italy in 1400, falling in love with a Christian prince who is forced to marry another. Grazia marries the Pope's Jewish physician who encourages her to continue her scholarship. She becomes a scribe to Isabella d'Este and begins this book for her son, to be read when he comes of age. Renaissance Italy comes alive in this story.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the life story of Grazia dei Rossi, a jewish girl in the 1500's who falls in love with a Christian. It's very well written and told. I totally enjoyed the book.
In the footnotes at the end, the author says she got the idea for the book from two actual letters she found. In one, the Marchese tells a Jewish girl that she shoud convert and marry the Christian man who loves her so and it's answering reply from the girl stating that she is in a quandry about having to choose between her Love and her her faith and family. From these two letters, the author developed her story.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in historical type of novels.

[Elaine Weeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit formidable to tackle at 743 pages but so engrossing that I finished it faster than expected. (A welcome diversion from a massive book project I'm working on.) As a historian, I was hugely impressed by the depth of research Park had conducted to write this epic tale about a 16th-century Jewish woman torn between her love for a Christian prince and her duties to her family. She records a secret book as a legacy for her son; the story travels back and forth in time as she describes her remarkable life in Renaissance Italy and her struggles to educate herself and find light in the darkness that often threatens to suffocate her.
Looking forward to reading Book 2.

[Mariana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not HR or interesting enough to continue

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this very much and got through it quite quickly. Grazia's perspective as a female, Jewish scholar in Renaissance Italy was one I'd never heard before. I was extremely impressed by the all the research the author must have done. Also, she quoted both translated and original text from Greek and Latin classics quite extensively. I'm not sure if she's a scholar of those languages or not, but either way, she did excellently in that regard. It really lent a feeling of authenticity to the book. My favorite part was reading the descriptions of all the masterpieces of visual art that surrounded Grazia in her life, both those currently in progress and those already completed and famous. I would have LOVED to see some of them in progress or newly-finished. It's staggering for me to imagine being a contemporary of some of the great masters and to actually know some rather than just know of them. Now I really want to go to Italy.

[Cynthia L'Hirondelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book over 10 years ago after my daughter's friend's mother lent it to me. Really enjoyed it, lots of interesting (and brutal) history and a fascinating story. I've been hoping for last 2 years to find the book to read again, but could not for life of me remember the book's title. Had resigned myself to maybe never finding it as all I could remember was the setting and time period and that it involved some early history of banking. Then was at my favorite thrift store today, where I've previously found two other needle-in-a-haystack books (one being Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon, the other a set of local historical fiction books by J. Robert Whittle), and there at the bottom of a bookshelf was a book that looked vaguely familiar. I picked it up, read the back cover and realized this was the book I thought I'd never find. Now looking forward to reading it again and then lending it to my now young adult daughter.

[Ruthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting historical fiction based in Italy. Real attempt to show what life was like for a Jewish Upper Class family during the Renaissance. Sometimes welcome at the Palaces of Rome, Venice and other parts of Italy, sometimes persecutes and the victims of never-ending Church sanctioned anti-Semitism, the family lives straddling a tenuous line between enjoying respect and privilege and being scapegoated and persecuted.

The details of day-t0-day life are interesting, the sense of place is well done, and the reader comes away having learned a thing or two!

[Nicholas Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit of challenging vocabulary, but quite the story so far. About a secret book written by an Italian Jewish scribe in the 1500s to her son. The tale of her life's trials and tribulations and involves religious themes as well.

[Craig Monson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweeping look at the life of a less usual, early Renaissance woman, originally inspired by two (real) letters exchanged between Isabella d’Este, Duchess of Mantua, and a Jewish women whom she was trying to convert. Telling a woman’s late-15th-century and early-16th-century life from this fresh perspective was a shrewd strategy, and a refreshing change from the familiar, unremitting stream of goyische princesses, queens, and duchesses, (not to mention the occasional pseudo-pope). In 700+ pages, we follow Grazia dei Rossi’s eventful life and love challenges from Venice and Mantua in the north to Rome further south, with extended sojourns in Ferrara. Bologna, and Florence along the way, over the period from 1487 to 1527. A subsequent, equally hefty volume apparently takes her onward to Constantinople.
Grazia makes her own, somewhat individual way as her extended family confronts a succession of potentially overwhelming challenges, which they manage to negotiate with considerable, far from inevitable success (e.g., the Blood Libel, the creation of the ghetto in Venice, Fra Bernardino da Feltre’s incitements to anti-Semitic violence, etc., etc.). These do NOT eclipse Grazia’s personal story, however, which is told in a somewhat cool style (closer, perhaps, to Robert Graves’ detached narrative in I Claudius than to the panting and flaired nostrils of the latest boddice ripper). The eventful, epic tale keeps moving along with enough interesting characters (real or imagined) and plot twists (similarly real or imagined) to keep the pages turning.
The author’s claims about how “historically accurate” it is, might incite some of us to creep out of the Pedant’s Corner to whisper, “Yes, but. . . .” Grazia or her friends could not be visiting Bologna’s piazza del Nettuno, since Giambologna’s Neptune wouldn’t be finished for another half century or so. Grazia could indeed have admired Venice’s Ca d’Oro, but not the Ca Rezzonica, which wouldn’t rise along the Grand Canal for another couple centuries. A bug-eyed Grazia might well have marveled at a Tuscan friend’s “private water closet piped out into the yard,” since the “water closet” wouldn’t be invented until 1596 (though some primitive, Florentine prototype would be plausible). Much more concerning, a smart, educated, well-brought-up woman like Grazia, however independent-minded, would NEVER be stupid enough to leave the house alone in the company of a strange man in Bologna, or anywhere else: an unaccompanied, unprotected woman was the natural target for groping or worse. (And her attacker wouldn’t worry about a Tic Tac.)
Such minuscule lapses certainly in no way spoil a good read: an easy way to learn about some less immediately familiar corners of Italy and its history.

[Sara G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tremendously well written book about a Jewish woman in Italy during the time of the Renaissance. Her life is tied up with d'Estes, Gonzagas, Medicis, etc. The amount of historical research required to write something like this absolutely floors me, and it was easy to visualize a lot of the places having recently been to Rome and Venice. I didn't love it, though - Grazia dei Rossi seemed to have too charmed of a life. Any time something interesting happened, it was linked to her and her life somehow. For example - a great prostitute appears at one point and everyone is talking about her. Turns out, she's someone Grazia used to know. I really phoned it in for the last third of the book, wanting to know what happened but not excited to read the story. It's a very good book, just not one I'd bother to read again.

[Tocotin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows a pattern of a libra segreta, a secret manuscript written by the heroine as a confession of sorts for her young son. She chronicles her tumultuous life of an exceptionally learned girl from a quite unconventional Jewish household in Renaissance Italy. Grazia's biography aside, the picture of Jewish life is probably the most interesting part of the book. No matter how influential and prosperous, Jews were never safe from the machinations of fanatics, the dishonesty of princes or the simple jealousy of the masses. Grazia's family loses its wealth and its members several times in the course of the story, and is forced by fate to wander between Rome, Mantua, Ferrara and Bologna, never to be entirely sure what tomorrow could bring.

The main character was engaging enough and her voice brisk and original, and I liked her even though I couldn't always agree with her decisions. The book is full of interesting people though, and every secondary and tertiary character has their own story to tell (Zaira, Pantesilea, Ser Chigi, Ricca and others). Some of them are downright brilliant - Isabella d'Este and Andrea Mantegna come to mind - and some are a bit too colored by, I think, the author's obvious wishes, like Judah (he was too much of a doormat at times, and his business with Pico della Mirandola was ekhm a bit on the predictable side) or Dorothea (too conveniently spineless), but nonetheless fun to read about.

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, smart, incredibly interesting, and rife with historical detail at its finest. The Secret Book is an excellent read. I loved the characters, all of which leapt off the page. A page turner, a love story, a historical study, a book about faith, court intrigue, literature, duty, redemption, and ultimately a story about family. A wonderful picture of the Renaissance. Jacqueline Park wrote a terrific book and one which I highly recommend.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This bok sat on my shelf for a long time, unread for reasons which are too complicated to explain, but when I finally got to it, it proved worth the wait, covering territory that I haven't seen any other book cover in the history of the Renaissance and the history of the Jews in Europe. Very well-writen and a story very well-told.

[Susan Lerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book some years ago,but I remember really enjoying it, so I'm giving it 5 stars. It has all the ingredients that make for a good read: intersting history, dynamic characters, a touching romance.

[Louise Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction - a perfect combination of history, life, love, family - all mixed together - during the period before and during the inquisition in Italy.

[Lorri · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning until the end, I loved this generational saga. It will stay with me for quite a long time.

[Peggy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Banal, trite, juvenile. I'm sure a teenager would love this book but as an experienced adult reader, I found the characters one dimensional and boring.

[D · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh. My. God. I thought the Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore was the worst book I’ve ever read, but at least that one was blessedly short. I have no idea why I kept reading this book, it took me months to get thru it. At 567 rambling pages, it’s about 367 pages too long & filled with so much padding, it’s easy to skim over most of it & not miss much. I guess I picked it up from my little free library because I’m Jewish & a history geek & thought it would be interesting to read a story with a Jewish heroine from 1500s Italy. Honestly, NOT WORTH IT. Grazia is a pretty awful character, and along with her abusive grandmother, crazy narcissistic brother, horrid Isabella, her jerk of a father (a gambling addict with classic addict personality traits who allows his cruel 2nd wife to abuse his daughter…ugh. This book is full of awful people with no redemption arc.

Also at page 425 suddenly Grazia is having torrid sex with her lover & out of nowhere, the writing becomes like bad 1960s porn: “then it was my turn to play coach master & I rode him the way the Amazon queen rode her charger into battle…” and “we washed each other…cleaning & oiling those poor worn orifices that had been so well used” and finally “ there on the cold stones he took me over, master to slave, pounding my willing body ceaselessly into the hard tiles as if his Venus rod were a hammer.” Folks, this is a narrative our heroine is writing to pass on to her son, at this point maybe 10 years old? to tell him how he was conceived. I don’t know about you, but I’d be hard pressed to find any young man who wants to hear about how his dad f****d his mom into oblivion but that’s just me?

And why do an epilogue that’s so long, & not much related to the rest of the story? Our heroine is struck down in the last pages in the stupidest, most anticlimactic way (& never gets the chance to betray her husband, turn her back on her faith & culture, or blow up her son’s life by revealing that the good man who has raised & loved him is not actually his biological father). I’m tossing this into the recycling bin, I can’t even bear to put it back in the free library, it was that bad.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had been sitting in my pile for quite a few months. I had picked it up at our neighborhood's 'lending library' (basically a little wooden box in our community park). I had heard it was a classic piece if historical fiction and a must read. I kept passing it over because it seemed 'heavy' both in content and actual weight (at 572 pages). But I am really glad I decided to finally take the plunge.

The book tells the story of Grazia, a Jewish woman in Renaissance Italy, daughter of a banker and wife of a renowned physician. She is a devoted daughter, extremely intelligent, shrewd and brave. The story of her life (with all it's secrets) is written by her as a letter to her son. It begins in her youth and describes what it was like to be a Jew in a very Christian world at the time. Eventually she falls in love (her first and only true love) with a Christian noble and is willing to sacrifice her faith for him but of course he must marry another. She soldiers on through life surviving run ins with the nobility, prejudice from all sides, the death of her beloved mother, her father's remarriage to her widowed conniving aunt and his death and the seizure of their property.

Obviously I can't attest to the historical accuracy as it pertains to life in Renaissance Italy but the references to the notable events of the time are intriguing. This includes the Medici family and what is left of their dynasty, the rise and fall of Girolamo Savonarola and his bonfire of the vanities, the scourges of the plague and syphilis, the 'reign' of Pope Rodrigo Borgia and the Medici popes, the Spanish inquisition, the volitile Emperors Charles V and VII and the constantly warring dukes of Italy. The final chapters of the book focus on the events surrounding the infamous 1527 'Sack of Rome'. Very fascinating times and very interesting life story.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started really slow and I felt like giving up. Fortunately, I persevered and, in the end, it was a good reading experience.

The book is the life story of Grazia dei Rossi, daughter of an important Jewish banker, wife of the Pope’s physician and secretary to the renowned Isabella d’Este. All this in Renaissance Italy, a period in History with plenty of “juicy” events to keep you interested.

The first part of the book, Grazia’s childhood and adolescence, was a bit boring. We follow the plight of her family, forced to flee their home due to persecution from the Catholics. I disliked this part because it focused too much on Jewish traditions and rituals, something that doesn´t grab my attention.

Grazia falls in love with a Catholic lord and, after being abandoned by him, decides to wed the respected Jewish doctor, Judah de Mendigo. It is a loveless marriage, especially after Grazia discovers an “embarrassing” secret about her husband. But here is where the story starts getting interesting. Grazia becomes more independent, more strong-willed and more appealing as a character. She travels a lot through Italy with her husband and on these trips, we get to know more about the relevant events that took place in the Renaissance period – the religious fanaticism of Father Savaranola in Florence, the construction of the first ghettos in Venice, the sack of Rome by the Spanish Emperor, Charles V. We also get to “meet” famous painters, kings and war lords.

The ending left me a bit dissatisfied, but the trip through History was worth the read.

[Katja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jong (13j.) joods meisje wordt verliefd op een christen en moet zich bekeren als ze met hem wil trouwen. Omdat haar vader na de dood van haar moeder met de vreugdeloze strenge weduwe van zijn broer getrouwd is, zoals toen gebruikelijk, die haar thuis gevangen houdt, kiest ze er inderdaad voor te vluchten naar het huis vd cathechumene. Ik vind dit een erg ongeloofwaardig deel. Joden en christenen leven in verschillende werelden en dan zou je zomaar switchen? Een priester die haar langdurig omhelst, de hostie die ze al krijgt voordat ze de communie gedaan heeft, de waterige kost die ze te eten krijgt, geen tijd om zich te wassen... hoe geloofwaardig is dat? Het verhaal speelt medio 15e eeuw dus wat kun je ervan nagaan als lezer? Sommige anecdotes zijn wel heel plastisch beschreven, zoals wanneer ze met haar geliefde in het bos de liefde bedrijft. Het wordt simpelweg in de vaart vh verhaal opgenomen alsof het de normaalste zaak was.
Gezien de hoge waarderingen zijn alle reviewers liefhebbers van dit genre. Ik ben op pag. 217, nog tot 650 te gaan... Maar het decadente milieu van de jonge markiezin, de spelletjes ter vertier... het zal best de tijd goed weergeven, maar ik houd het voor gezien.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over 20 years ago, and enjoyed it. Saw it a thrift store and bought to read again. Grazia is based on the letter written by a young Jewess in reply to Isabella Estes, a significant personage of the 16th century. The letter from Isabella urges the young woman to renounce Judaism and convert to Christianity that she may marry Estes' kinsman who is sick with love and longing for the young woman. The reply waffles between longing in return for the young man and the strength of her faith, family, and heritage. Park takes the the what if the young Jewess does renounce her faith for love? And what could go wrong? The research into the time is meticulous, and the politics that drive Italy and Europe in the 16th century make the story line - how to survive as a Jew in the face of prejudice and persecution. Excellent book.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a little slow at the beginning but it quickly picked up the pace. I always enjoy reading books that include actual historical figures and events. The author noted that all dates and places of the historical events included in this story are accurate which I appreciate.
There were many characters here, so the family trees included were very helpful.
This is the story of the life of the fictional Grazia, her family, their Jewish traditions, her loves, her career, her friendships, her people's flights from persecution, the politics and power struggles of the time.
Grazia was based on an actual woman whose letters to and from the Marchesse have been preserved and were the inspiration of this novel.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This "sweeping saga" was needlessly drawn out. There were occasional events that peaked my interest, but there was too much filler overall. I can appreciate that Park chose to write from the (often unacknowledged or unheard of) view of a young Jewish female in 16th century Italy. I can also appreciate that a great deal of research went into ensuring her setting was as historical accuracy as possible. At 700+ pages, however, I need a book to captivate me in a way that makes it feel like a short story and not a Biblical text. Plus the ending was abysmal and I didn't care for it. I would like to know how the rest of the series ends, but I doubt I will invest more time in something that I am lukewarm about.

[Faina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished “Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi”, almost 600 pages of small font, took me a while! I feel like it is a strange combination of a trashy love story with very interesting historical facts.

Set in Italy, starts with a riot against Jewish people, murder and looting. Her family barely escaped. He pregnant mother died in childbirth because not a doctor, not a midwife would agree to attend to a Jewess. Continues to the fall of Rome.

I don’t remember reading anywhere about Jewish life in Italy, establishing of Venetian ghetto, and some other events. While the book seemed to be too long, I still recommend to read it.

[Kate Viner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional account of a 15th Century Jewish woman’s life in Renaissance Italy, the subject matter is fascinating to me as so many of my university art history courses focused on the Italian masters and their patrons. I also had no idea Jews had been discriminated against during this time. This novel is dense at 724 pages but more so because of its highly researched account of Dukes and Emperors, Papal plots, Medecis and Marchesanas. I found some of story confusing and long-winded but that may well have been because I took a few months off from reading and got out of the flow. Overall it’s about love and honour, family and duty. And it’s an incredible, if a little long, novel.

[Jacqueline Worboys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is a lengthy book, it's a compelling read, exploring life in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Italy. It delves into the politics of the time, with families like th Borgias, papal warfare against French princes, medicinal practices of the time and the life of the intelligent and capable woman, Grazia dei Rossi. Great descriptions of locales-towns, buildings and cities. A woman would have to be very strong to be like the exceptional protagonist in this novel.

[Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but found it long at times. The author's research of the Italian Renaissance is impeccable, but oftentimes gets in the way of the story. I found myself skimming over pages of extraneous details about who was at war with whom so that I could get back to Grazia and Judah. I prefer to have a richly drawn setting as a backdrop to a story rather than an obstacle that gets in its way.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely amazing book - my favorite ever and that is saying something. The amount of detail that went into the research - you are taken back in time and place. I read the first book years ago and was beyond excited when I found out there were two more, which I have also read. It is the only book I have ever read twice and I am getting ready to read a third time - it is just that excellent in every way. The storyline, the characters, the descriptive writing - the best!

[Florey Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed story of a very young Jewish girl, Garcia, from a wealthy and successful banking family who runs away to be with a Christian knight, active in the court of an Italian nobleman. Garcia is tricked by the wife of the nobleman and they have an on/off relationship throughout their lives. Isabella(wife) admires Gracia’s intelligence and cleverness. Garcia needs Isabella’s power and has affection for her as a woman. A fun read because it tells of the period of Italian renaissance.