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 her discerning eye to one of the world's most intriguing and infamous families—the Borgias—in an engrossing work of literary fiction. 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 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. If the Borgias are to triumph, this charismatic, consummate politician with a huge appetite for life, women, and power must use papacy and family—in particular, his eldest son, Cesare, and his daughter Lucrezia—in order to succeed.
Cesare, with a dazzlingly cold intelligence and an even colder soul, is his greatest—though increasingly unstable—weapon. Later immortalized in Machiavelli's The Prince, he provides the energy and the muscle. Lucrezia, beloved by both men, is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens, hers is a journey through three marriages, and from childish innocence to painful experience, from pawn to political player.
Stripping away the myths around the Borgias, Blood & Beauty is a majestic novel that breathes life into this astonishing family and celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling, complex and relentless. Praise for Blood & Beauty "The Machiavellian atmosphere—hedonism, lust, political intrigue—is magnetic. . . . Readers won't want the era of Borgia rule to end." —People (four stars) "Dunant transforms the blackhearted Borgias and the conniving courtiers and cardinals of Renaissance Europe into fully rounded characters, brimming with life and lust." —The New York Times Book Review "Like Hilary Mantel with her Cromwell trilogy, [Sarah] Dunant has scaled new heights by refashioning mythic figures according to contemporary literary taste. This intellectually satisfying historical saga, which offers blood and beauty certainly, but brains too, is surely the best thing she has done to date." —The Miami Herald
"Compelling female players have been a characteristic of Dunant's earlier novels, and this new offering is no exception. . . . The members of this close-knit family emerge as dynamic characters, flawed but sympathetic, filled with fear and longing." —The Seattle Times
"Dazzling . . . a triumph on an epic scale . . . filled with rich detail and page-turning drama." —BookPage From the Hardcover edition.
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 her discerning eye to one of the world's most intriguing and infamous families—the Borgias—in an engrossing work of literary fiction. 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 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. If the Borgias are to triumph, this charismatic, consummate politician with a huge appetite for life, women, and power must use papacy and family—in particular, his eldest son, Cesare, and his daughter Lucrezia—in order to succeed.
Cesare, with a dazzlingly cold intelligence and an even colder soul, is his greatest—though increasingly unstable—weapon. Later immortalized in Machiavelli's The Prince, he provides the energy and the muscle. Lucrezia, beloved by both men, is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens, hers is a journey through three marriages, and from childish innocence to painful experience, from pawn to political player.
Stripping away the myths around the Borgias, Blood & Beauty is a majestic novel that breathes life into this astonishing family and celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling, complex and relentless. Praise for Blood & Beauty "The Machiavellian atmosphere—hedonism, lust, political intrigue—is magnetic. . . . Readers won't want the era of Borgia rule to end." —People (four stars) "Dunant transforms the blackhearted Borgias and the conniving courtiers and cardinals of Renaissance Europe into fully rounded characters, brimming with life and lust." —The New York Times Book Review "Like Hilary Mantel with her Cromwell trilogy, [Sarah] Dunant has scaled new heights by refashioning mythic figures according to contemporary literary taste. This intellectually satisfying historical saga, which offers blood and beauty certainly, but brains too, is surely the best thing she has done to date." —The Miami Herald
"Compelling female players have been a characteristic of Dunant's earlier novels, and this new offering is no exception. . . . The members of this close-knit family emerge as dynamic characters, flawed but sympathetic, filled with fear and longing." —The Seattle Times
"Dazzling . . . a triumph on an epic scale . . . filled with rich detail and page-turning drama." —BookPage From the Hardcover edition.
Availability can change throughout the month based on the library's budget. You can still place a hold on the title, and your hold will be automatically filled as soon as the title is available again.
Why is availability limited?
There are no copies of this edition left to borrow. Please try to borrow this periodical again when a new edition is released.
Before you stream any Disney Content, carefully read this EULA. Before you can license any Disney Content, you will be asked to accept all the terms of this EULA. If you do not wish to accept all the terms of this EULA, you will not be able to license the Disney Content.
You understand and agree that the Disney Content you receive through the OverDrive service, such as Disney movies, images, artwork and other copyrightable materials (the "Disney Content") is licensed by OverDrive from Disney. The Disney Content you receive through the OverDrive service, including the copyrights in the Disney Content, is owned by Disney, and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. OverDrive and Disney do not transfer any title, right or interest to or in the Disney Content to you.
Disney Content delivered to you through the OverDrive service is licensed to you; not sold, transferred or assigned to you.
OverDrive grants you a non-exclusive and non-assignable sublicense to stream and view a copy of the Disney Content only on approved devices only for the purpose of your personal, non-commercial viewing of the Disney Content consistent with the terms of this license. The delivery of the Disney Content does not transfer to you any commercial or promotional use rights in the Disney Content. All other rights in the Disney Content are reserved by Disney, and any other use is strictly prohibited.
You may not transfer, distribute, copy or reproduce the Disney Content or any portion thereof onto any physical medium, memory, server, device or other hardware, or any other medium now known or hereafter devised. In addition, you may not sell, rent, lease, redistribute or sublicense the Disney Content. You may not attempt to circumvent, avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, impair or otherwise defeat any encryption, rights signaling or copy protection technology in which the Disney Content is wrapped or otherwise associated with, and you may not edit, modify, translate or create derivative works or adaptations of the Disney Content. You may not decompile, copy, reproduce, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise reduce the computer file in which the Disney Content is stored to a human-readable form.
You may not stream or transmit Disney Content outside of the United States of America and Canada, and their respective territories, possessions and associated commonwealths.
The Disney Content is provided "AS IS". Disney expressly disclaims any warranties and conditions, express, implied, or statutory, including but not limited to, warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, satisfactory quality and noninfringement, and their equivalents under the laws of any jurisdiction. Disney does not warrant or otherwise state that the Disney Content will meet your requirements.
Under no circumstances shall Disney be liable for any damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages of any kind under any legal theory (tort, contract or otherwise) that result from the use of, or the inability to use, the Disney Content, even if Disney has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Any material breach of the EULA, including without limitation, copying or distribution of the Disney Content, will result in termination of the license for such Disney Content.
The library card you previously added can't be used to complete this action. Please add your card again, or add a different card. If you receive an error message, please contact your library for help.