THE BOOK OF THE CITY OF LADIES

In a smooth, cultured voice, narrator Georgina Sutton inhabits French noblewoman and author Christine de Pizan, who is most famous for her 1405 work about women. Christine, in a dreamlike state, meets three Virtues--Reason, Rectitude, and Justice--who help her build the City of Ladies. As Christine asks questions about the roles, vitality, and superiority of women, Sutton fluidly portrays the personified Virtues, each of whom recounts stories drawn from classical mythology, the Bible, Ovid, Herodotus, Homer, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others. Sutton's melodic voice maintains its courtly tone as the women dispassionately discuss philosophy, ethics, and religious beliefs, as well as advances in the arts and sciences. Listeners will hear no vocal flinching from Sutton when Justice describes the horrific tortures and deaths of female saints. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2021]