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Blood & Beauty

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About this listen

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. The crowd roars its greeting. But as Pope Alexander VI lifts his hands to offer the traditional blessing, silence falls. The clothes have become the man.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2013 Sarah Dunant (P)2013 Hachette Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Middle Ages Italy

Critic reviews

"She writes like a painter, and thinks like a philosopher . . . A tour de force of storytelling" (Amanda Foreman)
"A writer of powerful historical imagination and wicked literary gifts" (Simon Schama)
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The recent BBC Radio4 serialisation (Book at Bedtime) didn't do this book anywhere near the justice it deservies and I'm glad that it didn't put me off this unadbridged version, which is quite simply outstanding. Maybe even on a par with Wolf Hall? The narration is superb.

Outstanding

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I remember reading The Birth of Venus years ago and finding it gripping. And whenever I’ve heard Sarah Dunant talk on the radio I’ve found her well-informed and clearly passionate about her era of specialisation and Italy, about which I’m quite passionate too, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this book. Unfortunately it just hasn’t worked for me. I’m sure the research is meticulous, but the characters seem wooden and inauthentic. And for all the sumptuousness of the descriptions, I just can’t “see” the world described or the people who inhabit it. The narrator’s voice doesn’t help - too shouty and gruff without attenuation, and almost laughable with female voices. At least he pronounces Italian names correctly! But after a couple of tries I’ve given up at about the half-way point, finding this book ... well, a bit silly.


Disappointing

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Intrigue, blood, death, fascinating characters. Loved it. Beautifully written with wonderfully evocative imagery. Well read although sometimes distracting falsetto used for the female roles.

Gripped after a slow start

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Superb. Can't wait to start the sequel. And fabulous narration. An epic story told masterfully.

Why did it end?

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Like all really good historical novels, this one creates characters who are both psychologically plausible and of their time. The reader is outstanding - one of the best!

Compelling and very enjoyable

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