I simply live the writing. The descriptions are so rich and from the first page I was invested in the story. This book is perfect for anyone who loves the beauty and the beast fairytale.

Marvelous is a novel about the real life of Pedro Gonzales, a man from the 1500s who whose body was completely covered in hair. His marriage to Catherine, a beautiful young woman, may have been the inspiration for the original Beauty and the Beast. I was a little familiar with Pedro's story and was excited to read more about him and his life!

This book hooked me right away and held on until the end. This kind of story is very much my cup of tea: fictional account of a little known real person from a long time ago in an interesting time period and setting. I thought that the writing was gorgeous and really captured the characters. The time periods jump around from the "present" day and the end of Pedro's life, beginning with his death. I thought this was a neat way to tell the story and wasn't too confusing for me. I thought the relationship between Pedro and Catherine progressed in a very natural way and I liked that this story spanned all of their lives together.

Overall, I highly recommend this book if you are into historical fiction or if you're just interested in an interesting story! 4.5 stars from me rounded down to 4. Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

While the writing was beautiful and the cover is gorgeous, this one didn't hit for me.
This is a Beauty & Beast retelling set in the French royal court of Catherine de' Medici. Pedro "Monsieur Sauvage" Gonzales is one of King Henri's favorite oddities and marries him to Catherine Raffelin. Greeley takes us through their ups and downs, births, deaths, love and loss.
I would say my favorite part of the book was the historical notes at the end, I found those quite interesting. Thank you NetGalley for giving me this ARC.

I adore Molly Greeley's writing, I find it so lush. I can see why it would not appeal to everyone because it's very immersive so it moves slowly sometimes, but it hits just the right tone for me. I will absolutely give this a try in audiobook format when available. This is a great retelling of the true story behind the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale.

The truth behind your favorite fairy tales might not be as idyllic as Disney has made them out to be. Molly Greeley’s “Marvelous” blends a Beauty and the Beast retelling and actual history.

Based on the true story of Petrus Gonsalvus, “Marvelous” illuminates the true story behind The Beauty and the Beast legend and recreates his life in the French court of Catherine de Medici. After being kidnapped off the island of Tenerife, Petrus (originally Pedro) is bought by French King Henry II to be “tamed” and raised in the French court. As Petrus rises to fame in the court as “Monsieur Sauvage,” Queen Catherine develops a fascination with him and selects a bride to add to her menagerie of extraordinary people.

Petrus’s bride, 17-year-old Catherine, is the daughter of a merchant seeking to pay his debts with the outrageous dowry the queen offers. As Petrus and Catherine navigate newlywed life, they must maintain the balancing act of the royal court and political climate during this tumultuous period.

And yes, the Disney movie and fairy tale are based on Petrus and Catherine’s lives in the French court. Still, despite Greeley’s best efforts, the history and political intrigues aren’t fleshed out enough for readers. I struggled with accurately pinpointing the historical relevance of the story and believing much of the happenings in “Marvelous.” Much of the historical figures and events were written as last-minute additions to add more historical relevance to the plot. Greeley even admitted in her author’s note that she barely researched the historical period.

Furthermore, the narrators–Petrus and Catherine–had little to no dimension off the page. Lord, did I suffer reading through their inner thoughts. Despite being described as overly emotional (which, by the way, why do historical writers still do this?), Catherine never expresses these feelings and comes across as a static woman who lets the world walk all over her. Also, Greeley implies an ungodly amount of marital rape scenes that are never addressed, which further cements my opinion that if you can’t write or discuss rape or sexual assault with dignity, don’t write it! Additionally, Petrus and Ludovico’s brief love affair made little to no sense. It felt as if Greeley had stumbled upon queer history and decided to throw that into the mix to add some “spice” to the novel.

If my previous gripes don’t make you want to pull out your hair, then the pace of “Marvelous” will. The plot and action of the novel dragged out often. Still, if Greeley had done her research, the events of the historical period would have propelled the novel enough to make it bearable.

“Marvelous” was set up to be the next great retelling of a beloved fairy tale, but Greeley’s rendition of the truth left much to be desired.
This ARC was provided by William Morrow and Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what this author releases in the future.

This book was very well written but I struggled to fully connect with it. It reminds me a lot of a historical, "could be true" version of Beauty and the Beast. However, I struggled to really connect with and care about the characters. Interesting take but I don't know if I'd read it again or recommend it.

What an absolute delight this book is. Exploring the origins of the Beauty and the Beast story, it is emotional, poignant, and compelling.

The story begins with Pedro, a young man covered in hair. He is an orphan and quickly finds himself stolen away to be an oddity at King Henri's French court. He is educated and raised among the young people of court, but is always separate, always knowing that he is laughed at behind closed doors even as he is protected by the King. Eventually, he is wed to the wife of a disgraced merchant, Catherine, on the whim of Catherine de Medici. The story grows from there, following Pedro (now Petrus) and Catherine as they learn each other and navigate the dangers of French court and beyond for people that are different.

This book is in turns heartening and heartbreaking, told in brief chapters that lead to the pages practically turning themselves. Ms. Greeley's writing is lovely and refined, full of beautiful turns of phrase that stand on their own, yet add to the ambiance of a story told about a man and his wife that has spawned a hundred thousand retellings. Read this book and dwell in its beauty. You won't regret it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this lovely story to enjoy.

A new take on the concept of Beauty and the Beast and one that is rooted in reality. Monsieur Sauvage was a real man at the court of Catherine de Medici in France, he did wed Catherine and have multiple children together. Greeley brings these characters to life in such a refreshing way. I absolutely loved her writing and how it so thoroughly evoked feelings - about the treatment of the family and about the characters themselves. And most importantly, how Greeley intimately describes what it is like to be a mother was beautiful and heartbreaking and I felt it in my soul.

This is an interesting telling of the actual couple that inspired the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. It tells the tale of how Pedro ends up in France in the court of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici. Pedro is raised under the tutelage of the King and treated as a royal despite his appearance. He was covered in hair from head to toe. In spite of this after the death of King Henry, Catherine de Medici finds a bride for Pedro in Catherine, a young woman from Lyon whose mother was a Florentine just like the Queen. Catherine learns to love Pedro and understand his struggles and his pride as a result of his condition. It's a moving and intriguing story.

5 enthusiastic stars! Haunting, magical, and lyrically beautiful, Marvelous is a work of layered depth and meaning that reaches into the reader’s heart to draw out emotions that reverberate long after the last page.

Molly Greeley has crafted a transportive masterpiece of historical fiction that is more than a love story or a fairytale. It’s a work of breathtaking beauty that explores the avenues of what it means to be marvelously human at a time when being different was anathema at best and life-threatening at worst…a time, in some ways, not so much unlike our own.

Brava to the author for crafting a work of profound meaning and inspiring brilliance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Even though my understanding is that there is a touch of fact in this story, it's primarily a work of fiction. I did feel that it touched on many real-life issues. For me, when I read Marvelous, I saw the way the main character, Pedro was basically "bought" and owned by the royal court. Then later, after he and his wife had children, they found they could be taken from them on a whim and there was nothing they could do about it. It seemed to draw close parallels to slavery with the exception being that Pedro was not beaten or expected to work at hard manual labor. Instead, he was an oddity and was kept for that purpose alone. He was like a pet in a menagerie and so were is children.

This book stretches over the course of his life. It's told in quick increments but it's emotional enough in places to make your heart hurt for the discrimination and callous way that people viewed Pedro. Because his body was covered in hair, people often thought of him as being an animal and not a man and had no clue as to his intelligence. Even though Pedro did not suffer physical hardships, the emotional ones that he endured wore him down. The fact that he couldn't fully protect his family, devastated him. It was a beautiful yet emotional story but well worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I could not really get into the writing style of this story. I did not find that it was approachable and I did not find myself excited to pick it back up.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Despite how much I wanted to like the prose and the characters, I couldn’t get into this book. From the back cover of the book, I assumed this would be a story about Catherine de Medici, but it follows a man named Pedro and a different woman named Catherine. I was expecting a different story than what I got, so I will state in this review that I didn’t finish the book because my expectations were different from what the book offered.

Additionally, the prose, to me, seemed very wordy and intricate, which is simply not to my tastes. 3/5 because the main reason I didn’t finish it was personal preference.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Marvelous is like reading Beauty and the Beast if it got the Ever After movie treatment that was given to Cinderella. It’s lush and historical, without the magical elements commonly associated with the Beauty and the Beast legend. Pedro and Catherine’s story is fascinating, and I loved the non-linear story telling. It does, however, drag very long. I’d have like it better had it been cut by maybe 50 pages.

An ambitious but flawed look at the real life Beauty and the Beast.

I’ll start by saying that if you’re looking for a typical Beauty and the Beast reinterpretation or retelling, this isn’t it. This is based on a true story that matches with the fairytale (though not the Disney version) of the story.

This felt like an intriguing premise to me, but the book never really engaged me as I’d hoped it would, largely due to the flat writing and lack of atmosphere.

Several reviewers have mentioned that the book was devoid of atmosphere and cited the issue that the author said she couldn’t research in person due to the pandemic. While understandable from a logistical standpoint, it doesn’t exactly excuse the problem. I’m not sure I buy that it’s impossible to create good atmosphere without having seen the real location, for one thing. That sounds more like poorly executed research than an actual impossibility. And if it truly wasn’t working, better to hold the book until in person research was possible. Better a delayed book than a poor quality one.

The character development also leaves something to be desired, and makes it harder to ignore the aforementioned issues with setting. Though Greeley did alright with depth and evolution, the writing just isn’t compelling, and it doesn’t make you care much about the characters. They’re sympathetic, but not especially intriguing.

In the end, there’s just too much competition for a book like this if it isn’t well written, as there are too many other options for similar content that don’t have this problem. While I admire Greeley’s initial premise for the story and I love the idea of tying the fairy tale to this very real historical moment, none of that came together all that well in the final product.

Marvelous was just my absolute favorite kind of historical fiction novel. I loved reading about something that I was not too familiar with and also reading a little bit of history on what could have potentially inspired the great Beauty and the Beast story. This novel is heartbreaking and really dives into vanity and how cruel humanity can be. This book was really well written and researched and I could not have enjoyed it more!! I look forward to reading more from this author!

Marvelous is a fantastic story about a man named Pedro Gonzalez who suffered from hypertrichosis which caused his body to be covered in hair. It follows him through his life from when he was kidnapped to his death. He marries a really great woman named Catherine who is reluctant of him at first but truly comes to love him fully as time goes on. It is really a heartbreaking tale at times. We see how horrible humans are with the name-calling and abuse of people that are different. I found the whole court fascinating. The setting was perfectly written and the characters were likable and strong. I really did not want this one to end. I absolutely loved this book.

“People are people, however they appear.”

Until reading this book I’d never heard that the fairytale Beauty and The Beast might have been inspired by real people. Petrus Gonsalvus was born with hypertrichosis, a genetic condition that causes excessive hair growth all over the body. He was kidnapped and given to the King of France as a gift and this fascinating book follows his life in the court and beyond.

This was an incredible story that had my emotions running from one end of the spectrum to the other. This isn’t just a fairytale retelling, it’s a thoughtful look at humanity. There are some wonderful people who will look past exterior differences to see the goodness inside a person but also some who only see what’s on the surface. I loved how deeply this made me contemplate life and how I completely lost myself in the story. I even went back and read the first and last chapters because the story was so beautifully bookended.

If you’re looking for something different that will make your heart hurt one chapter and then swell with happiness the next, look no further.

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales and I love to read retellings and updated adaptations of this story. So when I found out that Marvelous is a fictional account of the real couple that the fairy tale was modeled after I had to read it. I will definitely need to reread the original written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in the mid-18th century.

This historical fiction novel did not shy away from the reality that the ‘oddities’ lived in the royal court. Petrus, and later his children, were provided for by wealthy and influential people that saw them as little more than pets. Catherine, wife and mother, loved her hairy family and never saw them as anything less than human.

Recommended for: historical fiction readers

Content warning: court politics and religious warfare

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.