Alison Moyet Live, Koninklijk Theater Carré, Amsterdam 2026

 

 I was thrilled beyond words to finally have chance to hear Alison Moyet live in concert - she was here a few years ago and I was just too clumsy with all this technical manoeuvring process of buying tickets online - the older I get this seems more complicated. It was not just a matter of finding the ticket provider but than putting down your name on a waiting list and than reacting in a correct time slot, all in all it was like lottery and too much for me. Luckily, this time a friend bought tickets so the whole bunch of middle aged, white haired people went happily together after a nice dinner in a nearby French Bistro. We had a very good seats, right in front of the stage and excellent view on the whole Carré theatre (God, I have witnessed so many completely different things here, musicals, circuses, ballet and whatnot). 

I love the fact that Moyet refuses to be a nostalgia act. Even though frankly her peak days were early 1980s, she continued pretty steadily over the years and probably sees her 1980s material as her concert bread & butter, but her heart is more into later, more recent music. If she really wanted, she could easily just serve the biggest hits and make everybody happy but she makes a point of mixing it with recent material. And this was a little problematic for me. I am very familiar with her music up to say, start of new millennium and everything what comes after that is one big blur. I grew up with Yazoo albums and loved her solo work but around "Hometime" (2002) she lost me and even I gave each subsequent album a proper listen, nothing really registered in my brain. This is not really just about Moyet but about most of the pop singers who have large body of work - I pick and up select my favourite period and stick to that. This means that each time Moyet sang old songs from Yazoo period (that audience just won't let go) my heart leaped from joy because this music is part of my DNA and I listened those darn cassette tapes non stop back in my teenage years, I worshipped on TOP 40 shrine as teenagers do) but than she would turn to something newer and my heart sank because not only I did not know it but I actually did not like it. The lady next to me (part of our group) actually enjoyed new material and I understand why, it was more edgy than Yazoo music that could - because of its simplicity - maybe be perceived as rinky dinky but I loved old staff and was hoping to hear exactly that. And not just the biggest hits but deep cuts like "Bad Connection", "Midnight" or "Winter Kills" - it was like a dream come true to finally listen this live, in Amsterdam, almost like a full circle coming from a place in my head from 40 years ago. 

As expected, Moyet was in excellent voice, looks much better than ever before (she is very slim now and has interesting dance moves) and was warm on stage. Audience adored her and I had fun looking around  and seeing happy faces everywhere - could not help but to notice that everybody got the most engaged when she performed old Yazoo hits and she even finished concert with 1-2-3 disco explosions of "Goodbye 70's", "Situation" and "Don't Go" which explains that she herself is aware this is what audience came to hear. Personally I wouldn't mind if she included more music from some other solo work, like brilliant "Hoodoo" which is my favourite album of hers but it might be that she moved away and simply grew into another direction. And this is just fine, nobody says we all have to love each single album, some things resonate with us more than the others. I am just amused that suddenly this 1980s music that I grew up with and thought "old" still means so much to me. 

p.s.

I almost forgot - this was the very first time that during the concert I was not busy with mobile phone, camera and taking pictures. Somehow touchingly old fashioned, I assumed that I am in the theatre and it might disturb the performance (it turned out music was so loud that nobody could hear my phone anyway) so I switched it off and towards the end when audience started whipping out their mobile phones I just found it too complicated to dig in the pockets and switch it on again, I decided to just enjoy the moment and let it be - there are tons of filmed video clips online anyway - nobody else is me and nobody else will enjoy my particular perspective tonight. So I enjoyed the music and the performance without urge to film it and whatever stays, it stays in my heart. 

"Miss Cayley's Adventures" by Grant Allen (1899)

 

 I always have lists on top of the lists and this is why I decided to read "The Wedding People" by Alison Espach, because it was so highly rated and praised on Goodreads - it also fitted with my decision to focus on authors I never read before - alas, dear reader, I did not liked it at all. I did not hated it, but it was not for me and as result of this, it soured me for a while towards reading, which is really pity because exciting reads usually lead to more exciting reads. After "The Wedding People" I simply didn't want to read anything anymore. Instead, I browsed some reference books about literature and recommended novels and this is how I stumbled upon this obscure and forgotten 1899 book, originally serialised in "The Strand" (which explains its chapter-by-chapter story frame) and it was a perfect antidote - it was delightful from the very first page and I loved it with all my heart, in fact I deliberately read it slow to enjoy it more. 

I have never heard of Grant Allen before so he was perfect choice for my "never read before" reading list and apparently this particular novel is actually one of his lesser known works. It is also one of the very first novels with a female detective, thought it must be mentioned that the main character in "Miss Cayley’s Adventures" does not work professionally as a detective - Miss Cayley is simply a example of modern Victorian woman who does not sit still but throws herself into outside world and welcomes adventures. I mean, just check out the very first sentence:

"On the day when I found myself with twopence in my pocket, I naturally made up my mind to go round the world."

This is not your average Victorian blushing flower who spends her time doing needlework and being all vulnerable and fainting, instead Lois Cayley is not only attractive but brave, athletic, strong minded and possessed of a sharp intellect. And this is how we are introduced to her at the beginning of the novel, when she realised her late stepfather left her penniless: she refuses to accept usual fate of impoverished young ladies (teaching) and throws herself in the outside world, actively searching for adventures that will help her to travel around the world. Accidentally (and we must add, somewhat serendipitously) she meet a "Cantankerous Old Lady" (Lady Georgina) who needs a maid to accompany her on her journey to Germany and is soon travelling together with her, accepting the position as a maid just for a week - her thinking is: 

The Rhine leads you on to the Danube, the Danube to the Black Sea, the Black Sea to Asia; and so by way of India, China, and Japan, you reach the Pacific and San Francisco; whence one returns quite easily by New York and the White Star Liners... the Cantankerous Old Lady was the thin end of the wedge -- the first rung of the ladder!"

And this is how the novel really begins, with our plucky heroine traveling to Germany, than Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, India and all over the place, enjoying various adventures along the way, unmasking greedy antagonists and charlatans, using her sharp intellect to point who is really a bad guy and generally being totally awesome. There is a lot of humour, wit and spark all trough the novel, with some interesting points at the racial prejudices at the time. The biggest mystery for me is why this delightful novel is not better known and how is it possible that its completely covered by dust of neglect and obscurity, I honestly wish there is a whole series of novels with Miss Cayley. Loved this one with all my heart! 

"Slow Horses"

 

I have actually watched the complete first season of "Slow Horses" sometime ago and completely forgot about it, probably because in my mind it got confused with similar "Department Q" - both series are dealing with a police team nobody believes in. While "Department Q" has a police team working from some gloomy basement, "Slow Horses" is more or less very similar premise, here we have MI5 agents banished to decrepit and neglected "Slough House" (hence the title of series) where they are expected to shuffle papers until retirement or voluntary resignation. The agents in Slow Horses" are here as a punishment: we eventually learn that all of them made mistakes that cost them career and instead of being fired, they are sent here in a purgatory. 

On top of this hierarchy is Jackson Lamb (brilliant Gary Oldman) who is purposely selected to lead this team of losers because he is extremely unpleasant, arrogant and rude - not to mention flatulent - and his task is to make life hell for his agents. He often sleeps in the office, apparently never have shower and you can almost feel cigarette breath reeking from TV screen. Than there are agents: River Cartwright (handsome Jack Lowden), ex- alcoholic Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves), computer wizard asshole Roddy (Christopher Chung), sweet couple Louisa and Min, the whole cast of supporting characters and occasional star appearance of sour faced Kristin Scott Thomas (as director of MI5) and Jonathan Pryce (as retired head of MI5 and grandfather of disqualified River Cartwright). Because each season has only 6 episodes, it is actually inviting to watch - I would never approach something that already has many seasons - this doesn't mean its easy to watch, because the stories are extremely complicated and convoluted, just as it should be in the world of spies and double spies. You can't really trust anybody here and if there is one thing you can always count on, its that characters are mostly not who they pretend to be. 

So I re-watched season 1 (with greatest pleasure) and than enjoyed season 2 where the main antagonist turned out to be my very own Croatian actor Rade Šerbedžija who happened to be the star of the very first theatre play I ever saw as a kid. He was probably the biggest acting name during my childhood and I even remember owning the LP album of poetry where he recited and it was a huge bestseller. Nowadays it seems as he found his place in international productions as a token bad guy from Eastern Europe, so if you need a mad professor or a scientist or KGB spy, he is usually the one. Season 2 was actually even better and more complicated than season 1 so now at this point I have really high expectations for season 3 which I will start next week as soon as I have time off. Very enjoyable!

Vacation Time

 

We were already on vacation this year, our winter escape were Canary Islands - but I said to myself why not taking another one - after all, there is no law saying it must be only one a year. After some careful considerations and several changes of plan, eventually we decided not to travel anywhere too far, airports and transportation draining all the energy and fun from vacation. So we decided simply to explore local places that we never visited before, like for example Zeeland which is part of southern Netherlands, almost at the border with Belgium. And I must say it worked out perfectly because nothing was really exhausting, in fact the train ride was very pleasant and we were there in no time.

Our first choice was little coastal town Vlissingen that might be popular in the summer time but in September it was almost completely deserted - a bit strange but fine by us, as we wanted peace and quiet. We walked trough quaint streets and enjoyed local museums, specially beautiful was a long promenade with spectacular view towards the sea, I even caught myself daydreaming how nice it might be to live here. Probably boring as Hell, but sometimes boring is nice. I mean, considering loonies we have to deal on the streets of Amsterdam, Vlissingen sounds like a safe place. 

We also visited a nearby town of Middleburg which is much bigger and I expected that I will like it more - on contrary, it was just bigger and nothing more. It lacked the beautiful seaside of Vlissingen and even though the buildings were very pretty in a frou frou way, I still prefer Vlissingen anytime. There was a interesting museum and a very eye catching city hall but I don't see myself going back.

Than I had visitors and we rented a car to make our explorations easier - it was totally a game changer because suddenly we were not dependant on the public transport anymore but could easily travel wherever we wanted. So first i wanted to show them a pretty little fisherman's town of Volendam which is very pictoresque but was that particular day still reeling from previous night festivites and everything smelled suspiciously on urine and beer LOL. Much nicer was a trip to famous Giethoorn that is celebrated as Venice of North - Giethoorn started as a religious refugee but is now a big business, sort of artificial Disneyland with boats full of tourists who expect a magical village without roads. The place where everybody rows a boat. Not exactly, you can still walk on the roads but boats are there and I must admit it is quite lovely.

Our next stop was Scheveningen beach near The Hague and it was really beautiful place, full of relaxed people just roaming around and enjoying the sea air & zillion restaurants offering fresh fish. A work colleague suggested a visit to nearby Madurodam which was the best - in fact, it might even be the highlight of the whole vacation for me: Madurodam (named after WW2 hero George Maduro) is a miniature park with replicas of famous Dutch landmarks. It was just the prettiest little thing and we were blessed with the most beautiful weather so everything worked in our favour, I enjoyed the whole day and the place is definitely on my visit-again list. 

Just as my visitors left, the perpetual rain started again and that was the end of our travels - initially we did had some more trips in mind but everything changed once we faced weather outside. There was simply no point of travelling anywhere if its just raining all the time, we might as well sit at home instead of being locked up in the hotel room. But it was nice while it lasted and I feel refreshed and good now. 

"The Wedding People" by Alison Espach (2024)

 

Branching into other genres that I normally go for sounds like it could be fun - in theory. 

And than, there are mistakes, misconceptions and simply wrong choices.

Note to myself: remember not to follow blindly any random suggestions by "The Guardian" or even "Goodreads" whose audience gave this book a "Goodreads Choice Award" for the "Readers' Favorite Fiction of 2024". In short, do not pay any attention to what other people read and simply follow your own intuition, choose your own reading path and never mind awards. I don't remember when was the last time I disliked the book so much (maybe "Behold the Man" by Michael Moorcock that I threw away across the room in disgust back in 2016), I really suffered with this one. You see, I expected something fluffy, a light summer read and perhaps something entertaining or witty that would even make me smile. After all, it earned widespread acclaim as something refreshing, clever and very funny. It was not and I disliked it immensely, but found myself stuck with it and didn't want to admit defeat so I read the darn thing to the end (halfway trough I switched to audio book just to speed it up little bit). While I understand that the author invested her time and energy into this + there are obviously readers who love this type of book, it was not for me. 

For the sake of reminding myself of what I just suffered trough, I will write down just the frame of the story, just so it never ever cross my mind to read it or this author again. A middle aged literature professor Phoebe checks in a luxurious hotel (that she admired in some brochures a while ago) with intention to kill herself. You see, her life, her career and her marriage are all falling apart and she disappears without saying a word to anyone, with only one wish, to enjoy the last night on this earth in a luxury. What she does not know is that the rest of hotel is full of week-long wedding party and somehow she got sucked into it, mostly by efforts of incredibly selfish, egoistic and self-centred bride Lila who insist that her wedding must be perfect and nothing, absolutely nothing should spoil it. Phoebe not only ends up being invited as maid of honour but - being an outsider - has a different perspective and soon everybody starts confiding in her, like she is some wise woman full of knowledge and wisdom, not a depressed suicidal frump she was in previous chapter. The book is built on totally chick lit premise but nothing here worked for me, probably because I am not a target audience - most of the plot and characters were simply either unconvincing or annoying to me. It even baffles me how on earth anybody could find this "favourite fiction of 2024" but than again, as I said, my reading path is uniquely my own and perhaps I should just continue following my own guts.

"Destry Rides Again" by Max Brand (1930)

 

OK so 2026 is definitely a year I started exploring a genre I have never ever even approached before and that is western. In the past, I associated it with a pulp novels my stepfather used to read and I guess it fits with his generation (he was post WW2 child, raised on John Wayne movies) - honestly, before 2026 the only western novel I ever read was "Betty Zane" by zane Grey. Funny enough, as I started my reading in January 2026, it was exactly revisit to that same "Betty Zane" (a few decades later) that gave me lots of joy and inspired me to explore the genre a bit more. Being systematic Virgo as I am, I made a list of what are classic examples of the genre (in chronological order) and carefully started exploring some more. I suffered a bit trough now extremely dated writing style of both "The Virginian" (1902) and "Hopalong Cassidy 1: Bar-20" (1906) although I enjoyed them both once I disciplined myself into reading - I simply knew that I have to continue until I reach something published in more recent times. So I totally skipped 1920s (something to explore?) and jumped straight to 1930 when this novel was published.

Just as I expected, writing is much more to my liking and to be honest, this might be one of the most enjoyable westerns I have read so far in 2026. Even though Owen Wister and Clarence Edward Mulford are celebrated as classics of the genre, I doubt that anyone reads them for pleasure these days. Max Brand (the pseudonym used by writer Frederick Schiller Faust) on the other hand, is a full blown western pulp fiction told in a exciting, much more modern language (I didn't get a headache like previously with above mentioned novels) and therefore easier to follow. In fact, it was just a perfect escapism, with lots of posturing, shooting, horse riding and all. 

Not to be confused with 1939. Hollywood movie of the same name, "Destry Rides Again" is basically a revenge novel, kind of western Count Monte Christo. At the very beginning we are introduced to swaggering and hotheaded Harrison Destry who is jailed for a crime he did not commit and the local jury of twelve men (all of them holding a grudge against him) sentence him to ten years in prison. Its clear they simply hate him for who he is and to be honest he was a troublemaker who loved to get drunk and fight, but surely this is not deserving ten years in prison. The novel really gets going when Destry gets out the jail and how he searches each single person from that jury to punish them for what they did to him. There is also a intriguing fact that the man he considers his best friend is secretly the main antagonist, so this works out very well. For once, we have no Indians, though they are some black slaves mentioned (in a extremely derogatory way that today we consider offensive, but it was obviously accepted in 1930). I enjoyed this a lot and read the book in a short period of time. I am also glad that I left the historical ancestors behind and now arrived at the point where I can easily follow the language. It's not a high literature, but a very very pleasant pulp fiction and a pure escapism. 

"The Hollow Man" by John Dickson Carr (1935)

While browsing excellent crime fiction guide "Crime fiction: A Reader's Guide" by Barry Forshaw I noticed the name John Dickson Carr mentioned in the same breath as Agatha Christie and other authors of the golden age of detective fiction - to be honest, I don't really know much about anybody else except Christie from that period (I have read one single novel by Ngaio Marsh) so this name got stuck in my brain + he was unusual as being perhaps the only American celebrated amongst his British colleagues - enough for me to become really curious and to give his most famous novel a try.

"The Hollow Man" (titled The Three Coffins" in US) is today his best known work and often mentioned as example of who Dickson Carr was as an author. It is also an example of so called "locked-room mystery" where detectives are facing a seemingly unsolvable crime and what at the first glance appears impossible case (no traces, no fingerprints, etc). I guess both Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie used this form, though Dickson Carr is the one mentioned as a prime example today. At first, I was intrigued - there is a murder in a house full of witnesses (but no one really saw what happened) and the policemen helped by sharp investigator Dr Gideon Fell are trying to connect the dots. The writing was solid, mysteries piled on top of mysteries and Dr.Gideon is entertaining as someone who often pulls conclusions out of the thin air. 

However, at certain point I became a bit exhausted by Dr.Gideon - yes, he is sharp and yes he glances in the corners and suddenly realises how pieces of the puzzle fit in much bigger picture, but the plot is so ridiculously confusing that at certain point all these "red herrings" feel almost like a parody. Almost like Dickson Carr wanted to use every single locked room cliché there is. Tunnels! Chimneys! Masks! Ropes! In fact, at one point Dr.Gideon suddenly gives a lecture about locked room novels and usual possible solutions to mysteries. (Almost like turning to a reader and talking directly to us instead of his policemen friends) He notes that audience often gets upset when finding out how exactly they were cheated and I find this very interesting because it shows that Dickson Carr was very much aware of his public and what they expect. On one hand, they wanted to be entertained but they will get disappointed once they realise how it was done. And yes, correct, eventually I found myself thinking that the road to the mystery was actually more entertaining than the solution itself, which felt rushed up and clumsy. 

Another thing that bothered me was that (with exception of the victim and Dr.Gideon) I could simply not remember who is who. At first I found this embarrassing and blamed my own lack of attention, but later found out that many readers agree that characters and the names were simply there as props and there were absolutely no development that could help us remember or understand who is who and why are behaving the way they are. You know, servant comes in and out of the room, the end. Various characters are floating around without any real distinction between them and I had to even look up the list of characters online to check who is talking. 

"'I will now lecture,' said Dr Fell, inexorably, 'on the general mechanics and development of the situation which is known in detective fiction as the "hermetically sealed chamber. All those opposing can skip this chapter. To begin with, gentlemen! Having been improving my mind with sensational fiction for the last forty years, I can say -' 

'But, if you're going to analyse impossible situations,' interrupted Pettis, 'why discuss detective fiction?

'Because,' said the doctor, frankly, 'we're in a detective story, and we don't fool the reader by pretending we're not. Let's not invent elaborate excuses to drag in a discussion of detective stories. Let's candidly glory in the noblest pursuits possible to characters in a book."

"We Used to Live Here" by Marcus Kliewer (2024)

 

After satisfying but somewhat slow-burning double biography of Leonardo and Lisa Gherardini, I was ready for something lighter, shorter and more gripping. Something that would make me read passionately, with interest and excitement, not just enjoying historical trivia. Thanks to my ever-growing lists of "books to read" and the decision to focus on authors unknown to me, I picked up this debut novel by a Canadian writer Marcus Kliewer who was exactly what I needed.

"We Used to Live Here" is a spiritual descendant of Shirley Jackon's early 1960s horror novels (even its title refers to "We Have Always Lived in the Castle") - not by the story itself, as much as for the atmosphere of uneasiness and dread that slowly creeps into the pages and it grows stronger and stronger as we progress. It appears as a disturbing example of "house intruders" story with uninvited guests on one side and gay couple Eve and Charlie on the other. Eve is the paranoid one, always looking for (and expecting) troubles, while Charlie seems more solid and realistic. There are many things that go bump in the night, a horrifying basement that apparently goes on forever, spooky shed, weird neighbours, etc, etc, etc - one of those stories where couple who just moved in is totally unaware of what everybody in the neighbourhood knows. Even if the author decided to keep it all fairly unresolved and full of hints, I didn't mind - I don't need to have everything spelled to me and can easily appreciate psychological unraveling without neatly tied endings. It kept me very busy reading for a relatively short period of time and it was a joy to read during my lunch breaks at work & deep into the night. 

"Bugonia" by Yorgos Lanthimos (2025)

Now, this was something out of ordinary and a intriguing peace of film making that made my brain buzzing for several different reasons - not only that the story was interesting (updated revision of Korean black comedy "Save the Green Planet!"), but the acting and directing was excellent and I loved how the movie perfectly describes our current world with people getting lost in online conspiracy theories and internet echo chambers that feeds on their fears and paranoias. Considering that I didn't really care for Korean movies (too much clowning and mugging for my taste), I would say the director created his own, much darker twist on Korean original and it was one of the best movies I have seen this year so far.

"Bugonia"(and old folk ritual that has something to do with Bee keeping) has only three main characters, so you bet the acting is brilliant. Impoverished conspiracy theorist Teddy (Jesse Plemons) who is also a beekeeper, is convincing his autistic cousin Don (actual autistic actor Aidan Delbis) that they need to save the world from aliens who are secretly destroying our planet and the focus of their attention is CEO of a major pharmaceutical company Michelle (Emma Stone) whom they kidnap and keep chained in the basement, until she admits that she is actually alien from Andromeda Galaxy. What follows is a mind boggling duel between two strong personalities - no matter how hard Michelle tries to explain that she is in fact, not alien, Teddy has already made up his mind and nothing can convince him to the contrary. He has "done his research" you see, so God help you if you try to talk your way out of the chains and the basement. Michelle quickly realises that she is in hands of a dangerous psychopath but she can obviously not win by confronting him - subsequently we see match of two completely different personalities, one that holds a lifelong grudge (based on ignorance, poverty and childhood traumas) and another that uses her icy intelligence to find a way out of this. I won't say anything else about the plot but the movie is extremely gripping and I enjoyed everymoment of it. I wasn't really enjoying Emma Stone's Oscar winning role in 2023 "Poor Things" by the same director (I found it too vulgar for my taste) but this one was excellent - both Stone and Plemons are powerful and convincing, this is five stars from me.I was constantly on the edge, wondering what would I do if I found myself kidnapped by conspiracy theorist who is already convinced that I am alien from another galaxy.

Dog's Heaven II

 

Sadly, my dear friend who was the owner of Balder has passed away and his surviving partner is in no physical condition to walk him as much as needed, so we came to agreement that we will share the care of the dog. Not unlike the child of divorced parents, Balder now spends a week in my place and weekend with his old owner - I make sure he gets a lot of attention, plays, kisses and hugs. Thanks to Balder now I am forced to move my ass from the sofa and go for a walks - in fact, I have discovered that evening walks (when its a little bit cooler) might be my favourite part of the day: I take him for a hour-long walks around the neighbourhood and these walks are good for me. He is not always in the mood for long walks, in fact, very often right after he poops, he insist on walking back home but I insist and I want to make sure he walks properly and gets tired. 

My neighbour's little Zoe is also often here, since she lives literary next door and our doors are always open for her - whenever her owners need to go away for a weekend, we are delighted to have her here. She is tiny and very demanding, insist of being centre of attention all the time - she is not thrilled that Balder is here but must accept him, so its really funny how they eventually live side by side. The very first time, she was so upset that she turned to a wall and refused to look at him. Later they ended up sitting on the same sofa but not looking at each other. I still walk them separately, since they are both very difficult with pooping (it must be right temperature, right spot and I should not look at them) but I don't mind - one dog welcoming me home is already a joy but two dogs being thrilled with my return is wonderful. 

"Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered" by Dianne Hales (2014)

A slow-burning and quite beautiful double biography that discusses lives of both Leonardo da Vinci and Lisa Gherardini, along the way we are treated with a colourful tapestry of renaissance Florence with its cast of thousands and countless intriguing anecdotes of how life used to be back than. Reader must put aside any prejudices or opinions - its wrong to judge 16th century by modern standards and what nowadays we might consider wrong was totally accepted once. For example, like most of Florence ladies, Gherardini was constantly, perpetually pregnant and at the age of twenty four she was married eight years, with five children - high mortality of children meant that perhaps only half of them survived the childhood. Than there is this story about women often entering a covent if they didn't have a suitable dowry - without dowry, nobody would take them - two of her own sisters AND her oldest daughter entered a convent (at the age of twelve) and were basically buried alive for the rest of their lives, only because family could not get appropriate finances. (It seems dowry was only important for aristocrats who were carefully managing their lands and properties, a baker's daughter would marry for love.) Than there is Leonardo himself, who was never legitimately recognised by his father and as a "bastard" was not able to to attend university or to pursue professions such as medicine and law - he was forced to create himself and pursued a lifelong self education. 

At first, reader might wonder do we have any proper, documented informations about Gherardini but there are surprisingly many of them and Dianne Hales delightfully share her excitement in doing research in modern-day Italy, following the footsteps of both mysterious lady and her painter. We are introduced to the whole family clan and its many intricate branches, everything placed in its proper historical background, weddings, wars and all:

"Sometimes hours, sometimes days, weeks, or even months after the exchange of vows came the triumphal procession, the ductio ad domum or domumductio (leading [of a woman] home) from her parents’ to her husband’s residence, a bride’s moment of public glory. Since the marriage was not yet complete, Lisa did not have to wear a matron’s cloak (mantello) but could show off her wedding apparel to the entire town.

The festivities would have continued at the del Giocondo home, with a guest list extending beyond the immediate families to various kin groups. Everyone dressed as beautifully as possible as a way to “far onore” or contribute honor to the event. The wedding feast may have featured expensive treats, such as spiced veal, roast kid, peacocks’ tongues, and sweetmeats. Honeyed almonds were popular confections for the guests, with musicians, singers, and jugglers entertaining well into the evening.

The eating, dancing, toasting, and singing might have seemed to go on forever yet passed as quickly as a flash of summer lightning. As the bride, Lisa, imbued with the special authority of a queen for a day, could have invited young men and women to dance as couples. In the old Tuscan wedding ritual, her mother would have placed a baby boy in her arms as a harbinger of future sons and slipped a gold coin in her shoe for prosperity. Outside, a few young men may have lingered to shout and sing in a raucous mattinata, a tradition whenever an older man “stole” a young girl for his bride. Some coins tossed through the window for drinks would have persuaded them to leave." 

There is literary a cast of hundreds, including both notorious families of Borgia and Medici, Niccolò Machiavelli, various kings of France, young Raphael and Michelangelo who at thirty earned more money than Leonardo did in his lifetime. The rivalry between them was explained in a chapter dealing in their proposed (but never materialised) joined work, "The Battle of Anghiari" - in 2018 I have seen the exhibition about it in the Teylers Museum. 

Towards the end, I got a sudden epiphany about Leonardo's work - most of the things he created during his lifetime were celebrated but falling apart (for example, "The Last Supper" was peeling even during his lifetime). His motto was that art survives, where the real life beauty fades. It is very possible that the commissioned portrait of Gherardini (that he never ever even delivered) was something he kept on doing for years, out of his own pleasure and beautifying it with details and new ideas until it no longer resembled real life person. In the last chapters we learn about several copies around the world (none of them convinces me) and the fate of real painting that travelled far wider than either the artist or its subject ever did.