The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

 This book made me very glad I wasn't a woman living in the 1500s. Let's just start there.

It's Florence in the 1550s. Lucrezia is the third daughter of the grand duke, a very bright free spirit. Her oldest sister Maria is supposed to marry the Duke of Ferrara but she gets a lung infection and dies, so the duke suggests substituting her much younger sister, Lucrezia. Wishing to form a strategic political alliance, her father says yes, even though the Duke is twice his daughter's age. A clever nanny manages to stall the wedding for quite some time but eventually Lucrezia has to marry the duke and head off to Ferrara, far from her beloved Florence.

As a young wife, Lucrezia finds her life is totally in the hands of Alfonso, her very mercurial husband. She has no freedom, no friends (except for the maid she brought from home), and soon realizes that if she doesn't have a baby soon, she may have no life. Couldn't put it down.