The Ruby Ring, Diane Haeger
The Ruby Ring, Diane Haeger
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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The Ruby Ring

Author: Diane Haeger

Narrator: Corrie James

Unabridged: 13 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/11/2022


Synopsis

Rome, 1520. The Eternal City is in mourning. Raphael Sanzio, beloved painter and national hero, has died suddenly at the height of his fame. His body lies in state at the splendid marble Pantheon. At the nearby convent of Sant'Apollonia, a young woman comes to the Mother Superior, seeking refuge. She is Margherita Luti, a baker's daughter from a humble neighborhood on the Tiber, now an outcast from Roman society, persecuted by powerful enemies within the Vatican. Margherita was Raphael's beloved and appeared as the Madonna in many of his paintings. Theirs was a love for the ages. But now that Raphael is gone, the convent is her only hope of finding an honest and peaceful life.

The Mother Superior agrees to admit Margherita to their order. But first, she must give up the ruby ring she wears on her left hand, the ring she had worn in Raphael's scandalous nude "engagement portrait." The ring has a storied past, and it must be returned to the Church or Margherita will be cast out into the streets. Behind the quiet walls of the convent, Margherita makes her decision . . . and remembers her life with Raphael—and the love and torment—embodied in that one precious jewel.

Contains mature themes.

About Diane Haeger

Diane Haeger is the author of several novels of historical and women's fiction, including four novels set in the court of King Henry VIII: I, Jane; The Queen's Rival; The Queen's Mistake; and The Secret Bride. She has a degree in English literature and an advanced degree in clinical psychology, which she credits with helping her bring to life complicated characters and their relationships. She lives with her husband and children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Annette

Author’s note: “The story is based on the actual discovery of a ruby ring that lay hidden for over five hundred years beneath a thin layer of paint on Raphael’s very sensual painting La Fornarina (The Baker’s Daughter). Who and why concealed it, may never be known. This novel explores one possible s......more

What a well needed dose of Italian Renaissance fiction this was for me. What a clever little writer Ms Haeger is. This book is very formulatic. Poor girl meets rich boy, attraction is there, sparks fly, he finds away to get her alone and eventually wears down her walls of saintliness and thus they b......more

Goodreads review by Debbie

3.5 stars......more