Review: The Brightest Star

Title: The Brightest Star

Author: Emma Harcourt

Publisher: 7th July 2022 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre:  historical fiction

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

A thirst for learning and a passion for astronomy draw an extraordinary young woman deep into the intellectual maelstrom, political complexities and religious extremism of Renaissance Florence. This beautifully crafted novel will appeal to readers of Karen Brooks' The Good Wife of Bath and Pip Williams' Dictionary of Lost Words.

1496 It is the height of the Renaissance and its flowering of intellectual and artistic endeavour, but the city state of Florence is in the grip of fundamentalist preacher Friar Girolamo Savonarola. Its good people believe the Lord speaks through him, just as certainly as the Sun circles the Earth.

For Leonarda Lunetta, eldest daughter of the learned Signore Vincenzo Fusili, religion is not as interesting as the books she shares with her beloved father. Reading is an escape from the ridicule flung her way, for Luna is not like other girls. She was born with a misshapen leg and that, and her passion for intellectual pursuits - particularly astronomy - alters how society sees her and how she sees the world.

Luna wants to know, to learn, to become an astronomer who charts the nights sky - certainly not the dutiful, marriageable daughter all of Florence society insists upon. So when Luna meets astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, she is not surprised that his heretical beliefs confirm her view that world is not as it is presented - or how it could be. These dangerous ideas bring her into conflict with the preacher Savonarola, and her future is changed irrevocably as politics, extremism and belief systems ignite in a dangerous conflagration.

Luna is a woman born out of time, the brightest star of her generation, but can she reconcile the girl of her father's making with this new version of herself? And if she does, will Renaissance Italy prove too perilous and dark a place for a free-thinking woman?

My Thoughts

The Brightest Star is a work of historical fiction by Australian author, Emma Harcourt. Following up from her debut, The Shanghai Wife, Emma demonstrates her versatility and depth as a growing author. What is there not to love in going back to Renaissance Italy and being immersed in the intellectual, political and religious turmoil of the day. Make the lead character a female with a physical disability and you have all the ingredients for a riveting story. 

‘How cruel a fate. She flung the book across the room and heard it smack sharply against the far wall. Damn this world that elevated men above all others.’

This was such a well researched book which made for excellent reading. Whether it be the politics of the time with the Medici’s, the growing movement and growth in the understanding of astronomy (particularly concerning Copernicus) or the role of women - there is certainly much on offer for readers of historical fiction. It was a full immersion into Florentine society of the day.

‘Florence was a city that did not suffer rule-breakers and he’d not counted on his daughter developing quite so independent a voice. She’d become wilful, speaking her mind whenever it pleased her and asking for the freedoms of a man.’

The story is overflowing with details as you come to understand how life was for Luna, being female with a disability. Was her father doing her a disservice by fostering her love of reading and other intellectual pursuits, setting her up for failure given society's expectations?  Luna’s story is certainly unique and worth the read as a strong female lead well ahead of her time. 

‘There was peace in the stars. The night sky blinked. There was Venus, so bright. ‘Hello, wandering star,’ Luna whispered and wished she were up there, afloat in her own perfect sphere in that more perfect world.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.