Blog Tour: Book Review – A Golden Web by Barbara Quick

Posted on June 3, 2011 Written by Leave a Comment
Alessandra is desperate to escape.
Desperate to escape her stepmother, who’s locked her away for a year; to escape the cloister that awaits her and the marriage plans that have been made for her; to escape the expectations that limit her and every other girl in fourteenth-century Italy. There’s no tolerance in her quiet village for Alessandra and her keen intelligence and unconventional ideas.
In defiant pursuit of her dreams, Alessandra undertakes an audacious quest, her bravery equaled only by the dangers she faces. Disguised and alone in a city of spies and scholars, Alessandra will find a love she could not foresee — and an enduring fame.
In this exquisite imagining of the centuries-old story of Alessandra Giliani, the world’s first female anatomist, acclaimed novelist Barbara Quick gives readers the drama, romance, and rich historical detail for which she is known as she shines a light on an unforgotten — and unforgettable — heroine.

A Golden Web is a historical fiction novel based on the life of Alessandra Giliani who is thought to have been one of the first women to study medicine.  Details of her actual life are are sketchy but the author did a nice job writing a story based on the information that exists.

I skimmed a little of the beginning but by the middle of the book I was interested in the story.  Things came together a little to nicely for this to be a completely believable account but I still enjoyed the story.  I loved the historical aspect of this book relating to the practice of medicine.

Alessandra didn’t give up on her dreams and her thirst for knowledge is something I could relate to.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: From Author as part of blog tour

Content: A few crude comments and a little language


For all the tour stops CLICK HERE.

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