A consistently gripping, emotional and unforgiving retelling giving Artemisia the voice she so deserves.

This was because a woman posing for a woman painter was considered more proper, and less like prostitution, which is a commerce that, according to Italians at the time, operated between men and women, not women and women. And yet it still falls back on lazy stereotypes that evil men draw sexy paintings while good girl Gentileschi paints morally pure Art. It’s such a skill to be able to take facts from history and weave them through fiction to bring that time to life.It’s hard to put your finger on what is missing but when a horrific rape scene is easy to skim over, something is wrong. I haven’t experienced an artist’s studio but feel as if I have now – the smells, the assistant, the sitter.

There is nothing that transports the reader to Rome in the seventeenth century, except for a few mentions of the Colosseum etc.It seems totally unaware of the fact that the viewer brings their own interests to the work, as in any art form. Through effervescent prose, Elizabeth Fremantle brings the story of artist Artemisia Gentieschi to life. I mean, I am as Artemisia–obsessed as anybody, but our heroine here is brilliant and faultless from six-years old onward… so it’s a point of view, but not one that’d be entirely manageable if not for the harrowing events that we all know are coming along the way.

This seventh novel takes us to 17th century Italy and tells the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most important and accomplished female painters of her time. Fremantle is an evocative, emotive storyteller, and Disobedient is a vivid reimaginging of an incredible woman. This book will stay with me for a long time, to remember Artemisia's courage in the face of her horrible trials and her triumphs.She doesn’t let societies expectations of a woman’s place in the hierarchy hold her back or determine what should be revealed or concealed in a painting. But from the brutal rape sprung her most renowned paintings, full of unflinching violence and passion. Disobedient is not easy to read because of what Artemisia Gentileschi, a genius Italian painter has to deal with as a female in late 16th and early 17th century Rome. This a story so beautifully written with such class and elegance along with empowering passion and strength and I found it impossible to put down.