Elizabeth Fremantle’s Sinners is a searing and unforgettable reimagining of one of history’s most haunting figures. Set against the grandeur and brutality of 16th-century Rome, this book reclaims the voice of Beatrice Cenci, a woman history has so often simplified or silenced.

Fremantle gives us a Beatrice who is not merely a passive victim, nor a calculating murderer, but something far more human and compelling. She is furious, flawed, and full of fire. In this version of events, she is a woman who has known violence, betrayal and confinement, yet remains defiantly herself even in the face of death.

The setting is vividly drawn—the rot of political corruption and religious hypocrisy seeps through every corner of Rome, from the oppressive Corte Savella prison to the cold splendour of the Cenci estates. The writing is visceral and atmospheric, with moments of striking beauty and crushing intensity.

What sets Sinners apart is its refusal to give easy answers. Fremantle doesn’t offer a neat, sanitised version of Beatrice. Instead, she presents her in all her contradictions: innocent and guilty, victim and agent, saint and sinner. It is a bold, unflinching portrait that demands the reader reckon with uncomfortable truths about power, justice, and the way history is written.

This is not a book that sets out to comfort—it provokes, challenges, and lingers long after the final page. For those familiar with the myth or the Shelley poem, this is a powerful reframing that dares to ask what happens when we truly look at the woman behind the legend.

A triumph of historical fiction and a reminder that every myth deserves a second telling.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Rome,1599 a true story of murder. But who did it and why. All attention has fallen on a young noble woman Beatrice Cenci. Is she a killer? If so, what drove her to this terrible crime the consequences that will lead to her execution?
From the beginning, there were whispers about the unnatural behaviour of Beatrice's father. You feel he may be a man of violence, arrogance, a man of storms and thunder. A man you run from, if you can. Already lost, a son from his feuding with the other leading families of Rome. He is such a fearful giant of a man, every time the pages talk of him, I am afraid for her... for them all..
Over time, treatment he meets out get worse. How much can Beatrice be expected to take. Following a particularly nasty encounter with her father, and fearing reprisals, the family flee Rome to their fortress in the country. For Beatrice, it's a prison giving the tale an even more ominous and eerie feel...
The one glimmer of hope in this dark and violent place is the handsome Olimpio.

Be prepared, it will challenge you. I cried tears of loathing and disgust, I cried tears of pity and fear.
Sumptuously atmospheric. Disturbing, shocking and troubling. And brilliant!

Thank you so very much to netgalley Penguinr Random House and Liz Fremantle for allowing me to read this wonderful book ahead of publication on 3rd July 2025

Suse

Beatrice Cenci had often been portrayed as a victim of a horrifying action.
If you are familiar with her story, you will be surprised by the accountings of this book.
Fremantle masterfully portrays Cenci as a complex, determined, resilient character who is hard fully grasp.
This was one of the most powerful writing I have read in a historical novel in a while.
I understand Fremantle's perspective on evidence and I was not able to predict Cenci's trajectory.
Though, if the myth is not a myth, and if the evidence is incorrect, I am glad that side was told by artists such as Percy Shelley.
Why not hear another perspective?

Craft 5 and more stars. It is so wonderful that I cannot stop thinking about it.
Plot and characterisation 4.5 stars.