Duchessina-A Novel of Catherine de Medici by Carolyn Meyer

Reading Level: Young Adult
Submitted by Gerti

When my daughter had to do a report on Catherine de Medici for her 8th grade class, I requested this book from the library.  The book arrived after the report, but I decided to read it anyway, since I like the approach Carolyn Meyer's takes with her series of Princess biographies, by focusing on the historical figures as children and teens.

I knew from Stephanie's report that Catherine de Medici's parents had died when she was still an infant, which already makes the Duchessina a sympathetic character.  What the Wikipedia articles on the Duchess of Urbino don't focus on is the next part of her life, which the young Catherine spent hiding in convents, as the city of Florence turned against her rich and famous family.  Meyer again makes Catherine an object of pity, as she shows how hard it was for her to have a famous name...giving me a little more sympathy for those rich kids who show up in TV news reports after having done something incredibly stupid, despite having advantages of wealth and fame that normal mortals don't have.  Meyer makes it sound more like a curse than a gift to shoulder a name and a reputation, even before you've grown up to earn one.  It's a fresh perspective, and I always welcome that while reading.

Meyer also gives de Medici a childhood romance, which of course the school of research on Catherine didn't turn up.  Whether or not it's accurate or wholly fictional, I don't know, but it does, I'm sure, make the book more appealing to teenaged readers, who may be harboring their own crushes!  The rest of de Medici's life follows the historical pattern we studied-she moves to France to marry a prince who doesn't love her, but survives it exactly because she had been brought up in such a cold, loveless environment.  Who knows what would have become of her if she had in fact been coddled and sensitive, like we expect our princesses to be!  And she triumphs in the end exactly because of her ability to endure and look at the big picture, which is a great message to send.

In short, I'm not sure about the amount of "fact" in this fictional account, but I do like Meyer's use of language, and her story-telling abilities are spot on in this novel for young adults.  She makes Catherine de Medici an accessible character, someone to whom teen girls can relate, and that's a pretty neat trick for a historical figure who died hundreds of years ago!  Meyer makes Renaissance Italy as real as downtown Hobart, and "Duchessina" a book worth reading for all audiences, from children to adults.