But what’s even more impressive to me is the way he conveys the sense of a man’s whole life with three seemingly unrelated vignettes, and how well the story flows despite its unique formal construction. L’Heureux’s craft is masterfully controlled: the supporting characters are vividly drawn (sometimes in just a few sentences), every detail is skillfully deployed to create a convincing whole and he effortlessly combines the realistic and the fanciful, without quite being either. Coetzee on the cover), but I confess I haven’t gotten around to them. I have a couple of his books on my shelf (including The Medici Boy, which sold me with its subject matter and a blurb from J.M. But he’s been writing for a long time, and has a very extensive bibliography. He’s not a very well-known name, and as Trevor noted, he’s hardly a New Yorker regular. The finished work is a sumptuously detailed historical novel that entertains while it delves deeply into both the sacred and the profane within one of the Italian Renaissance's most consequential cities, fifteenth century Florence.I was intrigued to see that this week’s story was by John L’Heureux. With incisive detail, L'Heureux beautifully renders the master sculptor's forbidden homosexual passions, and the artistry that enthralled the powerful and highly competitive Medici and Albizzi families. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save the life of Donatello, even if it means the life of the master sculptor's friend and great patron of art, Cosimo de' Medici.John L'Heureux's long-awaited novel delivers both a monumental and intimate narrative of the creative genius, Donatello, at the height of his powers.

With rich composition, L'Heureux ingeniously transports the reader to Donatello's Renaissance Italy-directly into his bottega, (workshop), as witnessed through the eyes of Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant.While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello's passion for his enormously beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to Agnolo's brutal murder.

The worlds of art, politics and passion collide in John L'Heureux's masterful new novel, The Medici Boy.

The Medici Boy by John L'Heureux