The Pope's daughter

Evoking the turbulent and creative times of the Italian Renaissance, Caroline P. Murphy portrays a still-unknown and fascinating heroine: Felicia della Rovere saw Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, watched her father, Pope Julius II, found the new Church of St. Peter's, and was immortalized by Raphael in the frescoes of the apartments of the Vatican Palace. Astonishingly fearless and outspoken for a woman of her time, she was unafraid to challenge a father who inspired fear in the faithful, scandalized the Vatican court by rejecting no fewer than five husbands, and, when she became regent, rebuffed all attempts to interfere in her government, engaging in a bitter feud with her stepson that culminated in murder.