The Ornatrix: A Novel - Hardcover

Howard, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468313827 ISBN 13: 9781468313826

Publisher: The Overlook Press, 2016

Synopsis

In this exquisitely dark debut, Kate Howard delivers a stirring tale on the cost of beauty, packed with suspense and period detail worthy of Kate Mosse, Jessie Burton, and Tracy Chevalier.Cursed from birth by the bird-shaped blemish across her face, Flavia spends much of her life hidden from the outside world. Lonely and alienated even from her family, she sabotages her sister’s wedding in a fit of jealous rage and is exiled to serve in the convent of Santa Giuliana. Soon she finds that another exile dwells in the convent: a former Venetian courtesan named Ghostanza whose ostentatious appearance clashes with the otherwise austere convent and sparks gossip throughout the town. When Ghostanza claims Flavia as her ornatrix―her personal hairdresser and handmaid―Flavia is pulled into a world of glamor and concealment where admiration is everything and perfection is the ultimate, elusive goal. And she soon finds that with beauty in her grasp, in the form of the poisonous but stunning white lead cerussa, Flavia will do anything to leave her marked face behind.Rich in description and character, Kate Howard’s stunning novel is painted against a vivid historical landscape with themes and characters relevant today, tackling issues of belonging, female identity, and the perception of beauty.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Howard received her PhD in English Literature from the University of Kent. Her extensive travels throughout Italy, especially the Umbria region, inspired her fiction. The Ornatrix is her debut novel.

Review

“The meticulous research and rich world-building place Howard alongside masters of the genre like Sarah Dunant and Tracy Chevalier (though Howard isn’t afraid to take readers down more ominous paths). If the idea of The Picture of Dorian Gray with feminist leanings gives you a thrill, then The Ornatrix is for you. ”
- BookPage

“Kate Howard’s The Ornatrix is a dazzling exploration of the meaning and conveyance of feminine beauty . . . At times morbidly engrossing, The Ornatrix is a powerful testament to both the wonders and pitfalls of feminine identity when entwined with ever-shifting perceptions of beauty.”
- Foreword (picked as a Foreword Reviews Best New Release)

“Kate Howard’s exceptional debut novel should be enjoyed in sips like fine wine, to better savor the lush, evocative prose all the way to the satisfying finish. It sent me immediately to my cosmetic shelf to decipher the real ingredients of all those miracle creams for which I have paid so dearly, even as I remembered that the more things change, the more they stay the same―especially human nature.”
- Brenda Rickman Vantrease, bestselling author of The Illuminator

“In The Ornatrix, author Kate Howard strips away the gilded facades of Renaissance Italy to reveal the sordid underside of the quest for physical beauty. Brave and brilliant, this is a novel that is as darkly compelling as a rare black pearl.”
- Patricia Bracewell, author of the Emma of Normandy trilogy

“This is a moving, sometimes frightening, and always surprising story.  Utilizing strong historical settings and enchanting language, the light and dark pigments coalesce into a story beautiful on multiple levels.”
- Historical Novels Society

“An intricate and authentic portrait of Renaissance Italy, especially of its feminine psychology.”
- Literary Hub

“Kate Howard’s marvelous debut novel creates a seething, sensual idiom entirely its own. Exquisite, earthy, witty – this is a book of rare beauty, about beauty. In this intensely-imagined, elegant and erudite novel, the story of a 16th century Italian woman’s quest for beauty springs vividly to life.”
- Wendy Wallace, author of The Painted Bridge

“A historical novel in the old-fashioned style...deliciously complex and intelligent.”
- Essie Fox, author of The Goddess and the Thief

“Life in Renaissance Italy is replicated with a multitude of details that make for absolutely fascinating reading in The Ornatrix. Howard is to be commended for not only doing the research, but for rendering it so well that visualizing the characters and their lives is easy.”
- The Gilmore Guide to Books

“A richly drawn cast of twisted characters...lyrical...beguiling.”
- Vogue UK

About this edition

• Publisher: The Overlook Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1468313827
• ISBN 13: 9781468313826
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304