Lost Girls: Sex and Death in Renaissance Florence
The book contains fascinating, and sometimes shocking, information about Terpstra’s topic. I appreciated that Terpstra does not exclusively limit himself to the subject of Casa della Pietà, but uses the mystery of what happened to the home’s residents as a way to examine related issues.(Erin SchowalterFeminist Review)Lost Girlsis a fine addition to any history collection, especially those with a focus on the Renaissance.(Midwest Book Review)The Casa della Pietà, or House of Compassion, was one of Renaissance Florence's earliest shelters for orphaned or otherwise abandoned adolescent girls... Of the 526 girls who lived there during the 14 years it was open, 324 died there. What was killing these girls? Terpstra attempts to solve this mystery.(Choice)[Terpstra's] study of Pietà can be recommended highly not only to those interested in women's history, social history, medical history, and economic history but also to anyone who cares about the historian's craft.(Jonathan DaviesReviews in History)A masterpiece of historical writing and an invaluable contribution to the study of premodern Italy... This book should be welcomed by anyone interested in social history, gender history, the history of sexuality, religious history or the history of medicine.(Tamar HerzigJournal of Modern History)Energetic, archival scholarship.(Elizabeth S. CohenLiterary Review of Canada)Unusual and ingenious... Those interested in the history of early-modern Catholic Europe and Catholic institutions on the Italian peninsula will find much to think about while reading this book.(Kate LoweCatholic Historical Review)It is well written and well researched by an established and erudite historian of this period, and it treats a difficult subject: the situation of Florentine orphaned or abandoned adolescent girls in the sixteenth century.(R. Burr LitchfieldRenaissance Quarterly)Terpstra weaves literary evidence, intelligent guesswork, and vivid historical imagination into an eminently readable micro-history that forms part of a growing body of scholarship that challenges long-held historical assumptions about female honor in the Mediterranean world.(Philip GavittAmerican Historical Review)Nicholas Terpstra uses the puzzling deaths of teenaged girls in a Florentine asylum for the poor to take us into many surprising corners in the life of working people, and especially women, in that sixteenth-century city—sexual, medical, religious, and more. A fascinating Renaissance mystery story and a wonderful read!(Natalie Zemon Davis, author ofThe Return of Martin Guerre)This is history with a decidedly human face. The author’s vivid descriptions of urban life and its material realities are unsurpassed. It’s no exaggeration to say that this book makes the streets of Renaissance Florence come alive like no other.(Sharon T. Strocchia, author ofNuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence)In this finely crafted microhistory he exposes the social and cultural contradictions often lost in more general studies that were critical to the existence and functioning of the Casa della Pietà.(Duane J. OsheimSixteenth Century Journal)