Sarah Dunant is an award-winning thriller writer whose novels are set in Renaissance Italy. She explores women’s lives through the lenses of art, sex, and religion, uncovering their hidden worlds. Her incisive commentary on history and culture brings the past to life with compelling vividness and intellectual depth. Dunant offers a unique and accessible lens into a pivotal era of European history.
Sarah Dunant's sparkling novel, In the Name of the Family, is girded by a keen political intelligence and a stunning feel for Italy in the years around 1500 Lauro Martines, Emeritus Professor off European history at University of California and one of world's foremost authorities on the Italian Renaissance
The two-and-a-half centuries after 1066 were momentous ones in the history of Britain. In 1066 England was conquered for the last time. The Anglo-Saxon ruling class was destroyed and the English became a subject race dominated by a Norman-French dynasty and aristocracy. This book shows how the English domination of the kingdom was by no means a foregone conclusion.
By the end of the fifteenth century, the beauty and creativity of Italy is matched only by its brutality and corruption. When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy, he is defined not just by his wealth, charisma and power, but by his blood: a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians. If he is to succeed, he must use his Machiavellian son and innocent daughter. Stripping away the myths around the Borgias, Blood & Beauty breathes life into the astonishing family of Alexander VI and celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling, complex, and relentless.
The BP Portrait Award, now in its nineteenth year, is a popular fixture on the summer calendar, and is the leading showcase for artists specializing in portraiture. The competition is open to all artists aged eighteen and over from around the world. The 2008 award received 1,600 entrants, all competing for the main prize of GBP25,000 and a possible commission.
1570 in the Italian city of Ferrara. Sixteen-year-old Serafina is fipped by her family from an illicit love affair and forced into the convent of Santa Caterina, renowned for its superb music. Serafina's one weapon is her glorious voice, but she refuses to sing. Madonna Chiara, an abbess as fluent in politics as she is in prayer, finds her new charge has unleased a power play - rebellion, ecstasies and hysterias - within the convent. However, watching over Serafina is Zuana, the sister in charge of the infirmary, who understands and might even challenge her incarceration. 'The reader is never allowed to forget the importance of this one girl's destiny, nor is the sense of suspense ever allowed to slacken. Will she escape back into a world where pleasure is not viewed as a sin? . . . Sacred Hearts masterfully creates a world' Donna Leon, Guardian 'It's a battle of wits, feminine duplicity and politics . . . a resonant narrative tension is set up between youth and age, science and superstition, love and chastity . . . A novel that is as intelligent as it is enjoyable' Amanda Craig, Daily Telegraph
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. 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: Bucino, clever with a sharp eye and a wicked tongue and Fiammetta, beautiful and shrewd, trained from birth to charm, entertain and satisfy men who have the money to support her. Venice, however, is a city which holds its own temptations. From the admiring Turk in search of human novelties for his Sultan's court, to the searing passion of a young lover who wants more than his allotted nights. But the greatest challenge comes from a young blind woman, a purveyor of health and beauty, who insinuates her way into their lives with devastating consequences for them all.
In a place where lies ring true and truth sounds like lies - whose seductive tale can you believe? From the bestselling author of The Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant's first thriller is as fresh as if it had been written today.
Recognized for her exceptional writing, Sarah Dunant's Fatlands introduces readers to Hannah Wolfe, a compelling detective navigating a complex mystery. Set against a backdrop that foreshadows the author's later success, this novel showcases Dunant's skill in crafting intricate plots and engaging characters, earning her the Silver Dagger award.
Love and death in Florence
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo.
Anna packs her bags one day without telling anyone where and why she is going - just that she'll be back soon. Her thoughts, as she boards a plane, is that this journey will give her time to think about her life - as a woman hitting forty, a journalist and a single mother. She has no premonition that she will become a statistic in a missing person file. Left at home is Anna's beloved six year old daughter Lily, her gay friend Paul who is surrogate father to Lily, and her eccentric best friend Estella. When Anna doesn't return, they make uneasy excuses, until, as time passes, the mind-numbing possibility that Anna might not be coming back, becomes terrifyingly real. And while those closest to her battle with their imaginations, Anna is on a dark journey - in one scenario Anna is on a ravishing, sexual adventure, on the other, much darker voyage, she is the victim of a stranger's dangerous sexual fantasy. In a masterpiece of emotionally intelligent and nerve-wracking suspense, Sarah Dunant takes us to the very edge.
