Showing results by author "Sarah Dunant" in All Categories

It is 1502, and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womanizer and master of political corruption, is now on the papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, age 22 - already three times married and a pawn in her father's plans - is discovering her own power. And then there is his son Cesare Borgia, brilliant, ruthless, and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with Machiavelli that gives the Florentine diplomat a master class in the dark arts of power and politics.

The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God’s protection. But any community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina’s new novice sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its core.

By the end of the 15th century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality and corruption, nowhere more than in Rome and inside the Church. When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy as Alexander VI, he is defined not just by his wealth or his passionate love for his illegitimate children, but by his blood: He is a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians.

My lady, Fiammetta Bianchini, was plucking her eyebrows and biting color into her lips when the unthinkable happened and the Holy Roman Emperor’s army blew a hole in the wall of God’s eternal city, letting in a flood of half-starved, half-crazed troops bent on pillage and punishment. Thus begins In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant’s epic novel of life in Renaissance Italy. Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, with their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her dwarf companion, Bucino, head for Venice.

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities.

Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527, with their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her dwarf companion, Bucino, head for Venice, the shimmering city born out of water to become a miracle of east-west trade: rich and rancid, pious and profitable, beautiful and squalid.

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities.

1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, brutally sacked by an invading army including Protestant heretics, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away, their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed as the enemy breaks down their doors.

The year is 1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away. Though almost as damaged as their beloved city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi, a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion, are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible. Venice, however, is a city that holds its own temptations.

Rodrigo Borgia picks up his papal skirts and walks out on to the public balcony.Sixty-one years old. How many years does he have in front of him? By his age, four of the five popes he had served were already rotting in their tombs. Sixty-one. Three sons, a ripening daughter and a sublime young mistress, ready to drop more fruit.Borgia blood. Thick with ambition and determination. How long does he need? Give him another ten - no, fifteen - summers and he will have the bull crest emblazoned over half of Italy.

In the Name of the Family - as Blood and Beauty did before - holds up a mirror to a turbulent moment of history, sweeping aside the myths to bring alive the real Borgia family; complicated, brutal, passionate and glorious. Here is a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia's doomed years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli.

Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous merchant father brings a young painter back with him from Holland to adorn the walls of the new family chapel. She is fascinated by his talents and envious of his abilities and opportunities to paint to the glory of God. Soon her love of art and her lively independence are luring her into closer involvement with all sorts of taboo areas of life.

Alessandra is not quite fifteen when her prosperous father brings a young painter back from Holland to adorn the new family chapel. Fascinated by his ability she is lured into closer involvement. On the streets of Florence she observes a terrible evil stalking the city and a fiery priest, who has set out to rid the city of vice, even art itself.

Rom, im August 1492. Schon am frühen Morgen ächzt die Stadt unter der Gluthitze des Sommers. Der Lärm in der engen Gasse lässt Lucrezia aus dem Schlaf fahren. Kann es wahr sein, was der Bote schreit? Ihr Vater, Rodrigo Borgia, der neue Papst? Die Nachricht stellt Lucrezias Leben und das ihrer drei Brüder auf den Kopf: Plötzlich sind sie die mächtigste Familie der Stadt, und das zwölfjährige Mädchen muss in Windeseile erwachsen werden. Denn ihr ehrgeiziger Vater weiß nur zu genau, dass die Hand seiner Tochter mehr wert ist als alle italienischen Ländereien zusammen.

Året er 1527 og vi befinder os i renæssancens Italien. Her møder vi kurtisanen Fiametta og hendes trofaste ven og følgesvend dværgen Bucino. På flugt fra Rom og de indtrængende soldaters hærgen, sætter Fiametta og Bucino kursen mod Venedig. Med sig har de kun de diamanter, de kunne nå at sluge. De når til tops i den farverige by med rigdom, kunst og skønhed og møder alverdens spændende personligheder - alle med skjulte motiver.

Når et menneske, vi elsker, pludselig forsvinder, er fantasien det eneste, vi har tilbage. En dag pakker Anna sin kuffert uden at fortælle nogen, hvor hun skal hen, eller hvorfor hun rejser – hun siger bare, at hun snart er hjemme igen. Da hun går om bord på et fly, forestiller hun sig, at denne rejse vil give hende mulighed for at tænke over sit liv. En kvinde på vej til de 40, journalist og alenemor. Hun har ingen anelse om, at hun snart vil figurere på listen over forsvundne personer.

Elizabeth Skorvecky sidder alene i sit store hus i en forstad til London og oversætter en ekstremt voldspornografisk kriminalroman fra tjekkisk. Hun er nervøs og forvirret, har netop afsluttet et syv år gammelt parforhold, hører mystiske lyde inde og ude og fornemmer, at nogen kommer og går i huset og flytter rundt på hendes ting. Gradvist smelter voldsthrillerens fantasiverden sammen med hendes egen virkelighed. Da voldsmanden vitterligt en nat dukker op, er hun parat.

Fredag aften ringer telefonen hos Hannah Wolfe. Det er Frank, der har skaffet hende en ny opgave. Hannah, der er privatdetektiv, er ikke just begejstret. Næste dag skal hun hente en 14-årig pige fra hendes skole og bringe hende hjem til hendes far. Mattie viser sig at være en pige, der ikke blot er kvik og rap i replikken, men også yderst sikker på sig selv. Hannah er ikke sådan at bide skeer med og snart opstår en gensidig respekt, der pludselig bliver brudt, da pigen forsvinder i et flammehav for næsen af Hannah. Hvorfor? Hannah sætter sit liv på spil for at få et svar.

Hannah Wolfe er privatdetektiv. Hun er vant til at finde forsvunde personer. Selv de der ikke ønsker at blive fundet, finder hun. Carolyn Hamilton er en talentfuld ung danser, der absolut ikke har nogen grund til at forsvinde. Men da hendes lig, med et otte uger gammelt foster, dukker op i Themsen med kjolens lommer fyldt med sten, bliver det, der startede som en tilsyneladende banal sag, mere indviklet. Især for en privatdetektiv, der forsøger at finde svar på nogle af sine egne spørgsmål om parforhold og moderskab. Ligsynet fastslår: død ved hændeligt uheld.

Året er 1492, og Alessandra er knap 15 år, da hendes far, en velstående klædehandler, tager en maler med hjem fra Nordeuropa. Maleren skal udsmykke væggene i kapellet i familiens florentinske palazzo. Som barn af renæssancen, fremmelig og med talent for at tegne, beruses Alessandra af malerens evner. Hun bliver via maleren trukket ind i sin fødeby Firenze, hvor den nye tankefrihed lever side om side med de gamle, kødelige laster. Hun opdager, at ondskaben hærger i byens gader og er vidne til, hvordan den fundamentalistiske munk Savonarola kommer til magten.