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.
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