Perspectives

by Laurent Binet

Florence, New Year’s Day 1557. As dawn breaks, a painter is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him, the paintings he laboured over for more than a decade. At his home,, a hidden painting scandalously depicting Maria de Medici, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Florence, as a naked Venus. Who is the murderer? Who is behind the painting? As the city erupts in chaos,, Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian , is picked to lead the investigation.

Genres: Historical Fiction

263 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2026

About the author

Son of an historian, Binet was born in Paris, graduated from University of Paris in literature, and taught literature in Parisian suburb and eventually at University. He was awarded the 2010 Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman for his first novel, HHhH.

Laurent Binet est né à Paris. Il a effectué son service militaire en Slovaquie et a partagé son temps entre Paris et Prague pendant plusieurs années. Agrégé de lettres, il est professeur de français en Seine-Saint-Denis depuis dix ans et chargé de cours à l'Université. HHhH est son premier roman.

Reviews

[Aina · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring and hard to keep track of who was writing to whom

[Balthazaar · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of voices, and it was hard to follow them all and hard to care about everyone. But the second half takes off like a rocket and it turns into a picaresque whodunnit. And who did do it? I’m not sure I know which ‘it’ we’re talking about! I found the defence of art hard to engage with, probably because I was listening to this on audio book, and I would have liked to explore it better. Shout out though to the main narrator who was fab. This I enjoyed more than I thought I would at 25% and it is quite an accomplishment in writing. Give it a go. Time spent in Florence is never wasted.

I got his book through the library service. Save our libraries. I ❤️ the library.

[Anaïs · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/4 A fun read !

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far too many pov’s whose writing voices sounded exactly the same, plus a preposterous twist towards the end. Disappointing.

[Anne F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise (still fun to think about) but precious and disappointing for the most part and the ending is absurd. Still, fun to hang out with these characters, I.e. Mannerist artists.

[Freddie W · Rating 5 out of 5]

"After all, there is only one noble thing upon this Earth, and that is art. Man is merely a fading stain on a wall"

Laurent Binet has crafted an absolutely excellent epistolary mystery novel, one which I will be thinking about for a long time. Binet's Perspectives is centred around a perplexing murder in Florence at the tail end of the Renaissance, and in the form of a series of letters we see the investigation and consequences unfold. There are a multitude of different characters in this book, and it may be a bit hard to keep track of so I would recommend frequently going back to the beginning list when starting out, but very quickly I felt like I fully understood and eagerly anticipated each character's perspective.

If you like scheming, two-faced, catty and boisterous characters then you will really enjoy this book like I have. I also have to say that this is an epistolary novel which actually feels like a series of letters, rather than a thinly veiled justification for a novel's existence. The different conversations, back-and-forths, and political backstabbing revealed in the letters feel ever so real, and very addictive to read as well.

This is not simply a historical mystery novel either, Binet has not only put so much thought and research into Perspectives that the world, and real-life figures, he writes of livs and breathe off the page but its tantelising plot threads explore so much from contemporary attitudes towards art, to discussions around class relations and geopolitics. I was utterly enthralled the whole time. To top it off, it was very funny as well.

Perspectives is an incredible book, and I expect I will want to reread the investigations of Giorgio Vasari, the schemings of Catherine de' Medici and Piero Strozzi, the cattiness of Sister Plautilla Nelli and Sister Catherine de Ricci, the haplessness of Maria de Medici, and the brazenness of the bombastic Benvenuto Cellini again once more.

[Liv’s Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Nice change of pace after a fantasy novel & I initially picked it up as I have a soft spot for Dan Brown novels and this seemed very close in themes- set in Italy, involving conspiracies and murder connected to the world of art and culture, dynasty, religion, history. I like novels that are made up of letters ( The Correspondent is one of my favourite reads of this year! P.S I Love You etc) and it does work well in this instance too. Almost creates a bit of dramatic irony as the reader becomes privy to information the characters are blind to. We have the privilege of various ‘perspectives’ so we can gradually put together the pieces of the puzzle, whilst still remaining in the dark enough for us to want to read to the conclusion.

It did just fall a bit flat for me though to be honest. I could’ve put the book down at any point and not been particularly bothered if I didn’t find out who committed the murder?

[Adam Hare · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5.

HHhH is a masterpiece of historical fiction and this is a somewhat goofy romp through Florence in 1557. I don’t really like epistolary novels, and this suffered a bit from one of their pitfalls—in reality, letters are usually very context dependent but the readers of a novel are unlikely to have that context. This results in characters explaining things that they certainly wouldn’t need to explain. Binet occasionally gets clever with this by having exposition-laden letters intercepted by their author’s enemies, but he doesn’t try very hard to sell his frame story (having discovered this cache of letters).

For what it is, it’s fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. How could it when there’s a scene of a famous artist doing an Assassin’s Creed leap of faith, complete with eagle sound effect?

Set your expectations closer to Dan Brown than Umberto Eco, and you’ll have fun with this. A good airplane book.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great fun - I love an epistolary novel, and it's especially fun to read one in the various voices that made up the elite of renaissance art and politics. The mystery is fun, but it's really just a pretext to explore a slice of 16th century Florence. Catty Cellini was a delight to read, as was the friendship between Vasari and Borghini (I chuckled at their 2-day hangover), and of course, the perspective of the Master himself - Michelangelo - reigns supreme. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys gossip, mystery and art, wrapped up in irreverent letters.

[Fliss Alwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intelligent and often funny read. I loved the premise of a Renaissance murder mystery told through letters. The mystery itself didn't provide much suspense for me. But the gossip, the pettiness, the scheming...these were more enjoyable than the mystery itself. Saying that, because it's told through many different voices, I occasionally struggled to remember who everyone was and found my attention drifting from time to time. However, overall it's short and snappy enough to let that wash over you and still find it an enjoyable read.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artist Pontormo has been murdered at the end of 10 years painting a fresco at San Lorenzo in Florence in 1527. This is a murder mystery told via letters, between Cosmo de Medici count of Florence, his daughter, his sister Catherine de Medici queen of France, Michelangelo, and other artists and officials of the day. All based on real characters. Describing the after effects of Savanarola and the Italian inquisition, the influence of Spain and France, the change in fashion in painting with the inquisition effect rejecting nudes. A fascinating piece of historical fiction

[Philippe Chenesseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une enquète sur un milieu historique (Florence, 1557) très documenté, nous apprenant quantité de choses sur le travail de la fresque et du milieu artistique de la Renaissance, sur fond d'intrigues politiques. La construction du roman sur la base d'échanges épistolaires est intéressante, déroutante mais brillante.

[Ally Bonhaus · Rating 2 out of 5]

everyone in this story is designed so immensely stupid that it becomes a cartoon you can laugh with

📚 charlie byrne’s bookshop, galway

it is making me do a bunch of research & also all the Mannerism painters were gay

[Molly]

ehhhhhhh

[j · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to blitz through this to give it to Granny as a birthday present. Some good bits didn’t live up to the concept