If you're looking for my reviews of a certain author or genre you can check my tags list. You can also see my list of book reads in 2007 & 2008 and 2009.

Book Title: In the Company of the Courtesan
Author: Sarah Dunant
Genre: historical romance
Rating: 3/5

Summary (from dust jacket flap):

"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, the shimmering city born out of water to become a miracle of east-west trade: rich and rancid, pious and profitable, beautiful and squalid.

With a mix of courage and cunning they infiltrate Venetian society. Together they make the perfect partnership: the sharp-tongued, sharp-witted dwarf, and his vibrant mistress, trained from birth to charm, entertain, and satisfy men who have the money to support her.

Yet as their fortunes rise, this perfect partnership comes under threat, from the searing passion of a lover who wants more than his allotted nights to the attentions of an admiring Turk in search of human novelties for his sultan's court. But Fiammetta and Bucino's greatest challenge comes from a young crippled woman, a blind healer who insinuates herself into their lives and hearts with devastating consequences for them all.

A story of desire and deception, sin and religion, loyalty and friendship, In the Company of the Courtesan paints a portrait of one of the world's greatest cities at its most potent moment in history: It is a picture that remains vivid long after the final page.

My thoughts: Having loved the previous book I've read from this author, I picked this one up with some expectations. Is not that I feel this book let me down, but is somewhat below what I expected.

In this book we follow Bucino, a dwarf and assistant, lets say so, of Fiammeta, a notorious courtesan, in their journey from Rome to Venice and their adaptation to this place, so different from others due to his liaison with the sea and the contacts this brings.

As in The Birth of Venus, the author, through the story of these two characters, tries to show the thought at this time about various themes. In this book she concentrates more in religion, namely the catholic one, though it has some mentions also to Judaism and the relationship between those who follow this faith and the Catholics, she also talks about the importance of physical appearance and the prejudices linked to it, and the author also talks about sex, how it was perceived by numerous points of view: religion, business, art, love... If this was well done in the mentioned book, in this one it was a bit less achieved, as it bores in certain occasions.

The story is still interesting, as well as the characters which are nicely constructed, but is somewhat predictable. The portrait of Venice is also a bit weak, as the descriptions didn't cause such an impact as the ones of Florence in The Birth of Venus.

It does its job as entertainment and letting us know how was the life of a courtesan in Venice, but for that I would recommend the movie Dangerous Beauty instead.

Fourth book read for the "Historical Fiction Reading Challenge".

Book Title: The Birth of Venus
Author: Sarah Dunant
Genre: historical romance
Rating: 4/5

Summary (from book cover): 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 Florence palazzo. A child of the Renaissance with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the artist's abilities.

But Alessandra's parents have made plans for their daughter, and she is soon married off to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, the reign of the Medicis, with their love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, is being threatened by the hellfire preaching and increasing brutality of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola and his reactionary followers. As the city shudders with violence and change, Alessandra must find her own way – and finally explore the passions she's kept so long at bay.

My thoughts: My expectations weren't that high so I have to confess myself impressed with this book.

We follow Alessandra, a brilliant girl, turning for adolescence into adulthood in Florence, a city we come to know and full of art and learning, which turns into darkness due to the extremist preaching of Savonarola.

So the author talks about a various number of thematics, namely art, theology and philosophy, but also the role of woman in her family, the various faces Love can take. Adding to this, there's mystery and romance which will satisfy any reader fond of these genres.

A good way to plunge into Renaissance Florence and understand the mentality, namely to how Catholicism was perceived, at that time.

Third book read for the "Historical Fiction Reading Challenge".