It is 1479 and with plague swirling in the city, cloth maker Vincenzio Fusili has arranged for his wife, Giulia, to have their first born in a grand villa in the hills above Florence, safe within the walls of the Medici country estate.
He is hoping for a boy, an heir to the empire he is building. The birth is tricky and when Leornarda Lunetta is born crippled, Giulia immediately shuns her, telling her friend Elisabetta to take the swaddled screaming bundle to the convent.
“The day was to be my glory and it has ended most monstrously,” Giulia cries, exhausted and desperate. But when husband Vincenzio arrives soon after the birth, he immediately falls for his baby girl, accepting God’s blessing.
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(Credit: (Image: Booktopia))
Cut to 17 years later and Luna, now an inquisitive young woman, has concocted a romantic picture of her mother in her head – Giulia actually died hours after Luna’s birth – and is devoted to her learned father, who remarried and has indeed grown in eminence.
Luna is a captivating heroine, excited by learning, brave and bold and yet also vulnerable. Her malformed leg has actually gifted her a freedom rare for her gender, and in Renaissance Florence Luna is in her element. Her passion is astronomy and when she meets Copernicus with his heretical beliefs about the universe, her spirit is ignited.
“The book’s tagline ‘it’s a dangerous time to be a clever woman’, fits perfectly for Renaissance times, but sadly, it’s still relevant in parts of the world today,” author Emma says.
(Credit: (Image: Instagram))But the big problem for Luna is that while her intellectual prowess is lauded when she is a girl, as a woman it’s considered immodest to be overtly smart. “We have a society that embraced educating young girls, but if and when they grew into eloquent women who wanted to remain single, there was no place in traditional, patriarchal Renaissance society,” notes author Emma Harcourt.
The result is a page-turning read and an historic armchair travelogue, taking us on a delicious wander through ancient Florence. There’s also something very topical about The Brightest Star.
“I have two teenage daughters and an adult son. I want all my children to be curious, brave and respectful,” Emma says.
(Credit: (Image: Instagram))“The book’s tagline ‘it’s a dangerous time to be a clever woman’, fits perfectly for Renaissance times, but sadly, it’s still relevant in parts of the world today; consider the plight of women in Afghanistan since the Taliban have taken control,” says Emma, who had her own children in mind when writing.
“I have two teenage daughters and an adult son. I want all my children to be curious, brave and respectful. Luna questions everything and in the process she discovers her own voice and embraces it.”
Born in Sydney, Emma Harcourt spent her gap year in Florence, the inspiration for The Brightest Star. “It was the most extraordinary time, waking up as an adult in one of the most historical, creative, romantic cities of Europe, first time away from home, first foreign language, first boyfriend.” Emma ultimately became a journalist in London and then Australia, where she has raised her three children. Her debut, The Shanghai Wife, was published in 2018. “Journalism felt like a job, writing fiction feels like
an escape,” she says.
For more hand-picked recommendations, read our top books for September.
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