Showing results by author "Sarah Dunant" in All Categories

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...

One of the Sunday Times's Top Fifty Summer reads - 'Extravagant portrait of . . . power and decadence' 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...

Acclaimed novelist of the Italian Renaissance Sarah Dunant now takes on the era's most infamous family: the Borgias. By the end of the fifteenth century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality and corruption, nowhere more than in Rome and in the Church. When Cardinal...

From the acclaimed author of The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan comes a vibrant exploration of the Italian Renaissance through the character of Isabella d’Este, the first female art collector and patron of her time. Her famed collection has long since dispersed or been lost, but what remains is her correspondence–thousands of letters preserved in a deconsecrated church and convent in the archive of Mantua.

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...

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.

Vivian, a student nurse, chose her profession as a challenge, both to her spirit and to her permanently exhausted body; Mic immerses himself in his work at the hospital to ward off the emotional wounds of an unhappy childhood. Through Jan, Viv's beloved older brother, they meet, and their...

'Simply amazing, so brilliantly written . . . almost intolerably exciting at times, and at others, equally poignant' ANTONIA FRASER 'A beautiful serpent of a novel, seductive and dangerous . . . consumes utterly - but the experience is all pleasure' SIMON SCHAMA 'She writes like a painter, and...

Elsie, sheltered and naive, is seventeen and unhappy. Stifled by life with her bickering parents in a bleak Cornish village, she falls in love with the first presentable young man she meets - Peter, an ambitious London doctor. On his advice she runs away from home and goes to live with her...

Losing out on a promotion to her ex lover, Hilary Mansell, a talented doctor, moves to a rural hospital. She is bored and unchallenged, but the routine and long hours dull her disappointment. When Julian Fleming is admitted with a serious head injury, Hilary's skill and quick thinking save his...

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.

On holiday in the North Devon countryside, Neil Langton looks back on the wreckage of his past. He has come to believe that all happiness is behind him; the wounds from his former marriage - in which his wife cheated on him and his young daughter died - are still raw. While rock-climbing, he...

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.

Kit Anderson is married to Janet, a beautiful but narcissistic woman who seems more shallow to him as time goes by. Their relationship has become strained and cold. Immersing himself in his work as a doctor, Anderson takes consolation in his career. Then, one night he is called out to a dying...

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.

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.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Italian Renaissance novels—The Birth of Venus, In the Company of the Courtesan, and Sacred Hearts—has an exceptional talent for breathing life into history. Now Sarah Dunant turns...