The book starts off with a magical rendition of Artemisia's childhood, the day she witnesses a beheading. She has accused her painting teacher of the darkest betrayal - he accuses her of being an immoral liar. Gripping, captivating, and consistently enlightening, DISOBEDIENT firmly places Gentileschi as one of the greatest artists and heroines in history. As Artemisia did in her own life, we too must not compromise for others and speak truth for all to hear. I haven’t experienced an artist’s studio but feel as if I have now – the smells, the assistant, the sitter.

The descriptive power of the novel transported me straight to the heart of Renaissance Rome with some passages so beautiful I had to read them twice. The motif of the Hermaphroditus figure appears as an attempt for Artemisia to grasp at breaking the gender binary, and there's a lovely scene where she draws a man in a dress to try and better understand gender taboos. As the author unravels the story of her early life and the trauma that occurs to her, I could see that her paintings evolve and could be described as violent, unflinching demonstrations of male debasement. Not because you’ve finished the book, but because Artemesia has stayed true to herself, and not been cowed, or capitulated to other people.Her evocation of the surroundings in which Artemisia lived - the constraints of both her physical surroundings and the social norms - is very vivid and often horrifying. Although we can’t know her true thoughts and feelings, Fremantle does a good job of getting inside Artemisia’s head and showing us what may have provided the inspiration for some of her paintings, such as Susanna and the Elders and Judith Slaying Holofernes.

I love the idea that each book is numbered and limited, they're extra special because they're personalised with those sought-after signatures, and they are not on tip-in pages.It wasn’t an easy read: the odds stacked against Artemesia, completely at the mercy of the men in her life. The author's frustration bleeds through, and it is like in the quote above, one piece of art in conversation with another. If you don't already know the story of 17th-century artist Artemisia Gentilleschi, I urge you not to google it but let this phenomenal novel describe her for you. I love Elizabeth Fremantle’s books so much I was prepared to read it digitally rather than wait for my physical copy. The story of Artemisia Gentileschi has been novelised a few times and this is one of the stronger versions.