Title: The Ornatrix Author: Kate Howard
Published: December 6, 2016
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 300
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Cursed from birth by the bird-shaped blemish across her face, Flavia spends much of her life hidden from the outside world. Lonely and alienated even from her family, she sabotages her sister’s wedding in a fit of jealous rage and is exiled to serve in the convent of Santa Giuliana. Soon she finds that another exile dwells in the convent: a former Venetian courtesan named Ghostanza whose ostentatious appearance clashes with the otherwise austere convent and sparks gossip throughout the town. When Ghostanza claims Flavia as her ornatrix—her personal hairdresser and handmaid—Flavia is pulled into a world of glamor and concealment where admiration is everything and perfection is the ultimate, elusive goal. And she soon finds that with beauty in her grasp, in the form of the poisonous but stunning white lead cerussa, Flavia will do anything to leave her marked face behind.
In a dark, dark debut that’s reminiscent of a Perfume set in 16th century Italy, author Kate Howard delivers a story about beauty and obsession. To say the story is unsettling would be to understate it. Not a fun or easy book, The Ornatrix was still good(ish), in its own way.
The book is about Flavia, “ugly,” who meets the “beautiful” Lady Ghostanza and develops a fascination for cosmetics and perfecting one’s appearance. Of course, other things happen over the course of the novel, but that’s about the gist of it.
To be honest, The Ornatrix just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t connect with either the characters or the writing. It all felt very stiff and remote, and the book itself was more of a chore than a pleasure to read. It wasn’t dull so much as difficult. Ease of reading just wasn’t a thing here at all.
And that’s upsetting, because I like was Howard was doing. Her subject and themes were interesting. The Ornatrix wanted to be great, could have been good, but it didn’t really arrive to that point.
