His Last Duchess

The chilling story of Lucrezia de Medici, duchess to Alfonso d'Este, "His Last Duchess" paints a portrait of a lonely young girl and her marriage to an inscrutable duke. Lucrezia longs for love, Alfonso desperately needs an heir, and in a true story of lust and dark decadence, the dramatic fireworks the marriage kindles threaten to destroy the duke's entire inheritance--and Lucrezia's future. 416 pp.