A Poisoner's Tale A dark gripping feminist retelling of notorious Italian Poisoner,

A feminist take on the tale of Giulia Tofana, a real life poisoner executed in rome 1651. Her life, her work and her inevitable death. The book does an exellent job in portraying the inescapable shackles and situations placed upon women, but also their adaptiveness and strength found in familial and platonic bonds. Highly engaging to the last page!

This book is based on the story of Giulia Tofana and you should be prepared for a few very dark themes before going in. It lets you question how far you can go in the name of protecting yourself and others, how much you are willing to sacrifice for it, and at which point you are considered a monster. It’s a story of women and womanhood, of mothers, daughters and sisters, but also of revenge and betrayal. It didn't blow me away entirely, but it was really good nonetheless and certainly heartbreaking!

First of all, this one should come with a trigger warning: Pedophilia, Rape, Torture How much is the freedom of others worth to you? Based on a (presumably) true story this book is heavy mental fare but it paints a realistic picture of the way women were viewed in the 16th century. When they had no rights or any room for self-determination. So what is there to do but kill their opressors and help those who can't help themselves? It's nice to think that back then there was an altruistic woman watching out for all women wanting to escape a life that held nothing but misery and sorrow for them. And if there was, Cathryn Kemp did a great job of bringing this long forgotten heroine back to life. Although the story was a little slow at first, I truly recommend reading this book and if it's just to see how one person can impact the life of countless others.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover and the story were very promising to me. I always love to read about women getting revenge and taking actions against bad men. But this one was not what I was expecting. I couldnt really connect to the characters, some of them I flat out didn't like at all. There was an POV Switch to the Pope Alessandro, which I began to skip halfway through the book, because I didn't want to read a man's voice in a supposedly feminist reimagining about a notorious circle of female poisoners. Apart from that, Kemp is really good at creating an immersive world, where you feel like you can just about see the streets of 17th century Rome behind your eyes. Scattered throughout the book were some beautiful quotes, and moments of female solidarity and strength, which I liked very much. But that was not enough for me to say that I like this book in its entirety.