Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici
    Unavailable
    Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici
    Unavailable
    Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici
    Ebook235 pages4 hours

    Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici

    By Carolyn Meyer

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    From the New York Times-bestselling author:She is the wealthiest and most envied girl in all of Italy—but she yearns for freedom…
     
    Young Catherine de' Medici is the sole heiress to the entire fortune of the wealthy Medici family. But her life is far from luxurious. After a childhood spent locked away behind the walls of a convent, she joins the household of the pope, where at last she can be united with her true love. But, all too soon, that love is replaced with an engagement to a boy who is cold and aloof.
     
    It soon becomes clear that Catherine will need all the cunning she can muster to command the respect she deserves as one of sixteenth-century France's most powerful queens, in this riveting historical novel in the Young Royals series.
     
    “This captivating tale of the rise of this Italian merchant family is seldom portrayed, and it plays out delightfully in this well-written novel.”—School Library Journal 
     
    “A sympathetic, engrossing portrait of a noble girl who, later in life, became a feared queen…With meticulous historical detail, sensitive characterizations, and Catherine's strong narration, Meyer's memorable story of a fascinating young woman who relies on her intelligence, rather than her beauty, will hit home with many teens.”—Booklist
     
    Includes a family tree
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMar 1, 2016
    ISBN9780547539034
    Unavailable
    Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici
    Author

    Carolyn Meyer

    Carolyn Meyer is the acclaimed author of more than fifty books for young people. Her many award-winning novels include Mary, Bloody Mary, an ABA Pick of the Lists, an NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess, a New York Times bestseller; White Lilacs, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an NYPL Best Book for the Teen Age, and an IRA Young Adults' Choice; and Marie, Dancing, a BookSense Pick. Ms. Meyer lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit her website at www.readcarolyn.com.

    Read more from Carolyn Meyer

    Related to Duchessina

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    YA Historical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Houses Divided

      Mar 27, 2020

      1390-1411 The mother of Richard Plantagenet and grandmother of King Edward IV and King Richard III, Anne de Mortimer was descended from royalty through her mother and grandparents. She died during childbirth. 1375-1415 The father of Richard Plantagen

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Boleyns

      Jul 18, 2019

      The Boleyns
      11 min read

    • Article

      Richard III Struggled Against His Two Brothers For The Crown

      Dec 1, 2020

      English history recounts many tales of bloody battles, but the infighting among “The Brothers York” was legendary for its ferocity.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Everything You Wanted To Know About Henry Viii And His Wives

      Oct 29, 2020

      Q: How happy were the early years of Henry’s first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon? A: I would say was his happiest marriage, ironically, given what happened. But Catherine and Henry had many happy years together and appeared to be very much in lo

      8 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Notes on Etiquette

      Mar 1, 2019

      Notes on Etiquette
      10 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      La Otra Historia

      Jun 30, 2022

      La Otra Historia
      14 min read

    • Article

      Hankering After Ghosts

      Dec 1, 2022

      It’s been 10 years since the publication of my book A Natural History of Ghosts (see FT296:42-45). I probably should have written more in it about the writer Charles Dickens. The truth is I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Dickens. I rea

      8 min read

    • Article

      Karolina

      Jun 15, 2019

      I first saw Karolina outside the Sumesa on the corner of Avenidas Oaxaca and Álvaro Obregón. She was smoking a stubby cigarette, a sled-like backpack hitched to her shoulders. I stopped short, felt my heart lurch. Could it be? Karolina was my brother

      31 min read

    • Article

      Writing Family History

      Dec 15, 2021

      Writing Family History
      5 min read

    • Article

      Part 2 WHEN FISH FLY: The Revolt on the Slave Ship Creole

      Feb 1, 2022

      On October 25, 1841, twelve-year-old Pleasant Brown boards the Creole, a merchant slave ship sailing from Richmond to New Orleans with a “cargo” of enslaved men, women, and children. Although the United States had outlawed the trans-Atlantic slave tr

      7 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Than Fiction

      Apr 12, 2024

      Stranger Than Fiction
      5 min read

    • Article

      Memories Of A Miracle

      Dec 1, 2023

      Memories Of A Miracle
      8 min read

    • Article

      Peace Comes With A Smile

      Nov 11, 2019

      Peace Comes With A Smile
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Plague Legends

      Dec 1, 2021

      The Plague Legends
      12 min read

    • Article

      That Particular Sunday

      Jul 6, 2023

      That Particular Sunday
      26 min read

    • Article

      The Family Plot

      May 7, 2020

      The Family Plot
      10 min read

    • Article

      Only a Fragrance

      Sep 1, 2022

      Only a Fragrance
      3 min read

    • Article

      In the Prison of Your Skin

      Feb 1, 2019

      In the Prison of Your Skin
      11 min read

    Reviews for Duchessina

    4.5/5

    4 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Not as good as Meyers other Young Royals books, but still a good historical fiction book
    • 3/5
      This was surprisingly good. Carolyn Meyer's books about the Tudors were all marred with superfluous descriptions of people's clothing and characters that were not characters so much as plot devices. Duchessina is much better written than that. Caterina's story was intriguing and I found myself wanting to know more about her; I knew almost nothing of her childhood when the story started. I might check out a few biographies of her; she sounds like a fascinating woman.My only complaint here is Meyer didn't really know when to quit. She had very detailed descriptions of Caterina's childhood, then after her marriage she zipped through the next several decades of her life and only ended it after the death of the king some thirty years later. I think the book should have ended around the time of the marriage and the rest of the story could have been included in an epilogue.
    • 5/5
      Orphaned at a young age and heir to a vast fortune, Catherine de' Medici was one of the wealthiest young women in 16th century Europe. But that did not make her childhood happy. For her own protection, she was kept locked in her home or secluded in a convent for most of her early years. After three years at the convent, she is finally set free, only to learn she is to be married to Henri II, prince of France, in a political union.Married at the young age of fourteen, Catherine’s marriage is not happy. Her husband is not interested in her, preferring his much older mistress. Catherine knows that in order to secure her future, she must produce a male heir. In order to survive in the world she must live in, she determines that she will use her skill and cunning to outwit, out scheme, and outlast her enemies, shaping her future as one of the most powerful and feared queens in history.Although Catherine de' Medici is not the most likeable of historical figures - she was known as a cruel and manipulative queen who ruthlessly eliminated her enemies - author Carolyn Meyer manages to make her a sympathetic young woman in this novel, telling of the events that helped shape her later character. I highly recommend this novel to teen readers who love historical fiction. It is a very fascinating look at a famous queen who is not often written about in young adult fiction.