Primavera

Hannah Burris

Mrs. White

Honors World History

13 October 2014

Primavera

                Mary Jane Beaufrand’s Primavera is a thrilling historical fiction novel that takes place during the Italian Renaissance. The main idea of this book, is to depict the main character, Flora, as a heroine. It is also to show the journey of Flora, as she finds her place in the world and overcomes tremendous obstacles regarding her family life. This book is about Flora desperately trying to save her family, the Pazzi, from their bitter rivals, the Medici family. There is an ongoing power and wealth struggle between the two families that gets progressively worse throughout the Italian Renaissance. The main theme is that family is important and should be a main priority no matter what grievances you have with them. Another theme is that everyone put onto this earth has a purpose, and nobody is superior to another. The main characters include Flora Pazzi, Emilio, Nonna, and the Medici family. The conflict is how Flora is trying to save her family and find her true identity at the same time. The rising action is all that leads up to the murder of Giuliano Medici, including Flora meeting Emilio, Count Riorio’s troops meeting the Pazzi troops, and the Pazzi-Medici party. The climax is when the assassins barge in on the Easter service at the church and kill Guiliano Medici. The resolution is when Flora is finally pardoned by Signora Lucrezia de Medici and is reunited with Emilio.

It all begins with Flora stealing diamonds so she can escape her destiny of life in a convent. She also compares herself to all eleven of her siblings. She thinks Andrea is too smart for her, Domenica is more beautiful than she, and so on. She is dissatisfied, because in her eyes, she does not seem to measure up to any of them. The bitter rivalry between the Pazzi family and the Medici family is soon revealed. Signor Jacopo and Il Magnifico (Medici) constantly one up each other in terms of wealth and power. We then get to meet Nonna, Flora’s grandmother and only true caretaker. Nonna is the local healer and the cook of the house. We also get to meet Emilio, a soldier for the Pazzis, who quickly becomes Flora’s only friend. Flora’s neglectful and judgmental mother begins to hatch a plan for her “more beautiful daughter”, Domenica to marry Giuliano Medici. The goal of this marriage alliance was to give the Pazzi family more wealth and power. The Medici family had also been representing the pope, but the pope now wanted Signor Jacopo to represent him. Therefore, the pope and Signor Jacopo came up with a plan to kill the Medicis at a specified time and place. Count Riorio’s troops are brought in along with the Pazzi troops to train for protecting the Pazzi family and killing the Medici. Meanwhile, Signor Botticelli is hired to paint Domenica as a Madonna. This painting will be a gift to the Medicis at a special party to try to convince Giuliano to marry Domenica. At the party, Giuliano declines the marriage to Domenica because he already has a lover and a young child with that lover. Soon, Easter Sunday arrives and all of the Pazzi family, except for Flora, go to a different church from the Medici. Flora and Emilio enter the same church as the Medici and are seated directly behind them. Just as the bishop is concluding his sermon, assassins hired by the Pazzis arrive. The assassins begin to ruthlessly attack the Medicis. Flora and Emilio disagree with the plan set out by the rest of the Pazzis, so they try to save the Medicis. Although they fail to save Giuliano, they do save Il Magnifico. As Giuliano dies, Flora promises him that she will make sure his son stays safe. Eventually, Flora and Emilio make a swift escape, and the assassins retreat. An angry mob forms against the Pazzis, who are said to be murderers and traitors. As the mob nears, Flora goes back to her palace to check on her grandmother. Sadly, she finds Nonna dead from poison. The mob then enters the palace and begins ransacking it and fighting with the Pazzi troops. Flora and Domenica hide in Nonna’s secret room. After the bloody battle ends, Flora takes Domenica to a convent to keep her safe. She then chops off most of her hair and dirties herself in order to look like a boy. This is to protect her identity, since a majority of the town is searching for all of the Pazzis. Throughout this struggle, Flora somehow loses Emilio and figures that he must be dead. She eventually goes to the middle of the town and sees her father and four of her brothers brutally murdered. Her favorite brother, Andrea, is put into the Bagello prison, and her mother is kept in solitary confinement. After seeing much of her family murdered, Flora enters a state of distress. A local goldsmith and his wife notice and take her in. For the next four years, she works for them, frequently pays a prison guard in gold rings to keep her brother safe from death in prison, and sends out trinkets for Giuliano’s son. Eventually, after thinking she was a boy for so long, the goldsmiths figure out Flora’s true identity. Flora then takes a brave move and goes to pose for one of Signor Botticelli’s paintings, thinking that she will be killed soon after. He too, figures out her true identity. After he is done with his painting, he reveals it to Flora, a bishop, and an unknown man. Flora eventually figures out that the unknown man is actually a matured Emilio. Flora is overwhelmed with emotion by the painting and the reappearance of Emilio. This painting became Botticelli’s famous, “Primavera.” The painting features Flora, as a goddess. Flora then realizes her place in the world and figures out how similar she is to Nonna, whom she has a great respect for. Flora is eventually pardoned by Signora Lucrezia de Medici, gets married to Emilio, and has four children. The book ends with Flora taking her role as the local healer, just like Nonna.

The reality of this situation shows many things in terms of history. First of all, the story depicts the real Medici family. They were a noble family of bankers during the Italian Renaissance. They had control of Florence and financial relations with the pope. The book accurately shows how greedy and power-hungry they were. It also shows how they were the most powerful noble family in all of Florence and how most everyone seemed to fear them. Second, the story depicts how harsh the punishments were during the Italian Renaissance. Even petty crimes could earn one something close to a death penalty. Some of the brutal punishments given out during that time period included, being tied to horses and ripped apart as they ran in different directions, getting your nose chopped off, and getting your hand chopped off. Flora’s father was ripped apart by the horses, a townswoman got her nose chopped off, and Andrea got his hand chopped off. The townswoman who got her nose chopped off, got that punishment all because she dressed up like a boy. This shows how harsh punishments are given for trivial crimes. Lastly, Signor Botticelli, was a real painter who painted the famous “Primavera.” He was a prevalent painter during the Italian Renaissance who was hired by many noble families to paint works of art for them. He is one of many painters that wealthy families hired to paint works for their personal galleries. “Primavera” was probably his most well-known work. The description of the painting given in the book is quite accurate because it mentions the various gods and goddesses depicted.

There were also many quotes in the book that had much significance to the overall theme. First of all, Captain Umberto says, “Remember, Flora: you are as good as any of my men. Godspeed” (147). This line gave Flora an immense amount of confidence. It was something that finally contributed to her self-esteem. She no longer felt as though she were not good enough. She now felt confident and that she could take on the world. This line gave her the confidence to take on the assassins who were going to kill the Medici. Second, Signor Botticelli says to Flora, “Signora Lucrezia de Medici has deemed you no longer a threat to her or her kin. You are free. You cannot remain in Florence, but you have her word that you will not be pursued” (239). This was a major breakthrough for Flora. She was no longer bound by the chains of hiding her identity and worrying about her safety. She could now roam free and express her true identity. Lastly, when regarding Domenica in the convent, Flora states, “I send for her yearly; yearly she refuses. I will keep inviting her until she arrives” (257). This shows the character of Flora. Despite her grievances with Domenica, Flora still loves her family. Throughout the book Domenica turned her nose up to Flora, and acted with hatred toward her. However, Flora put all of that behind her because she realized the importance of family and wanted to repair her relationship with Domenica.

The author of this book was Mary Jane Beaufrand. She has a husband, two children, and resides in Seattle, Washington. She wrote this book to satisfy her extreme fascination with Italian history. She was also inspired by the famous work by Botticelli, “Primavera.” She went to Wellesley College and the Bennington Writing Seminars. Primavera is her first book. Because she has a college degree and has had extensive literary training, Beaufrand is a reliable author. Her fascination with the work of art, “Primavera” and Italian history shows that she is an appropriate author for this book. Her fascination was probably one of the main driving forces when she wrote this book. She spent many months researching this topic, so it would be accurately depicted in her novel. This shows how she was well thought out and spent a lot of time writing this book. Her goal was probably to get readers to understand the Italian Renaissance at a more advanced level. She showed the pros and cons of the Renaissance.

Overall, this book was a fantastic read. It was well-written in terms of imagery. I felt as if I were in Flora’s shoes. The book vividly described the rich culture of Italy during the Renaissance. It included many genres that would interest a wide variety of people. It satisfied my taste for adventure, regarding the journey of Flora. It helped me to see the importance of family and the lengths some will go to protect their family. In my opinion Flora was a terrific heroine. She overcame tremendous obstacles. I enjoyed seeing Flora’s life before it got turned upside down. I also enjoyed seeing her find her place in the world. My only constructive criticism concerning this book would be regarding the extensive blood and gore depicted throughout the book. There are various vivid descriptions of killing and death that became quite grotesque to me at times. I would recommend this book to people who are in ninth grade and beyond. The blood and gore may be too much for those who are younger to handle. In addition, the historical accuracy of this book is on point. It shows many aspects of the culture including the social life, the Church, the punishments, the art, the food, and the housing. The depiction of the Medici family was also accurate. It showed their thirst for power, as well as how greedy they were. They had the city-state of Florence in the palm of their hands. They seemed to have everyone wrapped around their fingers. It was also accurate in terms of the description of Botticelli and his famous painting, “Primavera.” Botticelli was described as a well-known artist, and all of the main characters of the painting were addressed.

In conclusion, Primavera is a successful historical fiction novel. It provides a vivid and in-depth depiction of the realities of the Italian Renaissance. Some of these realities, such as the art and overall culture of Italy at the time, were luxurious. However, other realities, such as the punishments and nobility rivalries, were harsh. Altogether, these realities were compiled into the life of Flora, and they played out on the journey of her life.

Works Cited

Beaufrand, Mary Jane. Primavera. 2008. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Print.

Summer Blog Blast Tour: Mary Jane Beaufrand. 18 May 2010. Web. 13 October 2014.