A really good read full of lots if little known details. I really felt like I knew the Borgias when I was finished

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I've long been intrigued by the Borgias and always look forward to reading more about them

This is a well researched biography. Lots of new information to me - and I thought I knew a lot about them !
If you are interested in Renaissance history, Borgias and that period generally you will love this

I usually spend my 1400's and early 1500's in England and Scotland, usually with Richard III, so I do appreciate Ms. Morris trying to find new information to clear up the more sordid tales about this family, but I was disappointed. Italy during this time was made up of city states, whose governments usually allied themselves with other ruling families or to Spain or France. The governments frequently betrayed each other and Shakespeare had lots of material for Romeo and Juliet with the Orsini and Colonna families and others.. The family of Rodrigo de Borja came from Spain and their family had been in Vatican politics before Cesare and Lucrezia were born. The author is right in saying the brutality of Cesare and his father was not different than other families, but there is no new information presented. This is a very basic introduction and the author has a nice bibliography and the illustrations are relevant.

A fine edition to add to the many books tackling these infamous siblings = in both fact and fiction.

Morris make a poignant remark: "... now, as throughout history, people love a good gossip ...", and like us today, they "... want stories that both disgust them and draw them in ...". In their own time, Cesare and Lucrezia are the equivalent of today's Kardashians or Osbornes.

Delving into the family history from its Spanish roots, Morris provides the reader with a concise background of the family including Rodrigo's rise to the Papal throne up until the siblings draw final breath. But the focus here is on the two siblings - Cesare and Lucrezia - as opposed to a complete history of all Borgias. In this easy to read and well presented tome, all the main events are covered off - we are not bogged down in unnecessary detail so readers new to this topic will have no trouble at all keeping pace. For me, I love the Borgias, so much of this was well worn and familiar ground.

Gossip and hearsay were the weapons of the day that were used to destroy reputation - not only powerful, but also long lasting that like a series of chinese whispers, people begin to accept them as truths using that old adage "no smoke without fire" to justify such. And we are more than accustomed to history being written by the victors -as poor old Richard III can attest.

It is easy to forget that what is unseemly to our modern view was very much the norm - here, family is so important, that it is not strange at all to discover that Cesare and Lucrezia were close - afterall, it was the Borgias against the world - who else would they turn to and trust but one of their own.

Morris finishes by taking the reader through the various modern day adaptions of the Borgia story - from film and television, to game and books. Having just taken possession of yet another book on the Borgias, Morris' book will also find a home on my "Borgia" shelf in my personal library.

This book has great potential, but I had to stop reading midway though the first chapter as the writing style is little better than a high school social studies report - one that would get no more than a B- if graded by a very generous teacher. Run-on sentences and purple prose abound. Lucrezia and Cesare, no matter how depraved you might have been (the world may never know), you deserve better!