His Last Duchess

When sixteen-year-old Lucrezia de’ Medici marries the fifth Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d’Este, she imagines life wi with her handsome husband will be idyllic. But little does she know that he is a very complicated man. The marriage is fraught with difficulties from the start, and, as time passes, Lucrezia becomes increasingly alienated.

For Alfonso, the pressure mounts as the Vatican threatens to reclaim his title should the couple remain unable to produce an heir. Only his lover Francesca seems able to tame his increasing fury. But Alfonso’s growing resentment towards his duchess soon becomes unbearable, and he begins to plot an unthinkable way to escape his problems.