A Times Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year
A Cosmopolitan Best Book of the Year
A History Today Book of the Year
‘Dunant has made completely her own the story of the Italy’s most infamous ruling family . . . in a way that we can see, hear and smell’ Mark Lawson, Guardian
‘A stunning tale of power and family . . . In Dunant’s telling of the Borgia story, Lucrezia is not the sluttish power-crazed poisoner of legend . . . her glorious prose makes her version irresistible’ Antonia Senior, The Times
‘Stuffed with violence, danger and passion’ Daily Mail
Conjuring up the past in all its complexity, horror and pleasures, In The Name of the Family confirms Sarah Dunant’s place as the leading novelist of the Renaissance and one of the most acclaimed historical fiction writers of our age.
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, brutal, passionate and glorious. Here is a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia’s doomed years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli.
It is 1502 and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womaniser and master of political corruption is now on the Papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, aged twenty-two, already thrice married and a pawn in her father’s plans, is discovering her own power. And then there is Cesare Borgia: brilliant, ruthless and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with the diplomat Machiavelli which offers a master class on the dark arts of power and politics. What Machiavelli learns will go on to inform his great work of modern politics, The Prince.
But while the pope rails against old age and his son’s increasing maverick behavior it is Lucrezia who will become the Borgia survivor: taking on her enemies and creating her own place in history.
A Cosmopolitan Best Book of the Year
A History Today Book of the Year
‘Dunant has made completely her own the story of the Italy’s most infamous ruling family . . . in a way that we can see, hear and smell’ Mark Lawson, Guardian
‘A stunning tale of power and family . . . In Dunant’s telling of the Borgia story, Lucrezia is not the sluttish power-crazed poisoner of legend . . . her glorious prose makes her version irresistible’ Antonia Senior, The Times
‘Stuffed with violence, danger and passion’ Daily Mail
Conjuring up the past in all its complexity, horror and pleasures, In The Name of the Family confirms Sarah Dunant’s place as the leading novelist of the Renaissance and one of the most acclaimed historical fiction writers of our age.
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, brutal, passionate and glorious. Here is a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia’s doomed years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli.
It is 1502 and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womaniser and master of political corruption is now on the Papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, aged twenty-two, already thrice married and a pawn in her father’s plans, is discovering her own power. And then there is Cesare Borgia: brilliant, ruthless and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with the diplomat Machiavelli which offers a master class on the dark arts of power and politics. What Machiavelli learns will go on to inform his great work of modern politics, The Prince.
But while the pope rails against old age and his son’s increasing maverick behavior it is Lucrezia who will become the Borgia survivor: taking on her enemies and creating her own place in history.
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Reviews
Dunant shrewdly explores human vice and virtue as she charts a godless society orbiting around Pope Alexander VI and his daughter Lucrezia . . . In the Name of the Family contains multiple characters and plots, all of which are thoroughly researched and slickly interwoven . . . Dunant's writing is fast-paced, lusty, illustrative and exciting
"Which one of us will go down in history?" asks Cesare of Machiavelli. There are many words written about both men in fiction and non-fiction. However Dunant has a storyteller's instincts for the telling detail and the broad sweep of history. This, and her glorious prose make Dunant's version irresistible
This is Dunant's genius: her ability to piece together fragmentary, disparate sources and conjure up a compelling and convincing narrative
In this follow-up to the superb Blood and Beauty, Lucrezia is sent to meet her boorish third husband, while Cesare's pox-fuelled madness deepens. A stunning tale of power and family from Sarah Dunant
It is a cracking story, stuffed with violence, danger and passion, and it will keep you pinned to your pool chair long after the sun has gone down
In the end, what's a historical novelist's obligation to the dead? Accuracy? Empathy? Justice? Or is it only to make them live again? Dunant pays these debts with a passion
For the last 14 years, her historical fiction has been coming close to doing for Renaissance Italy what Hilary Mantel has done for Tudor England. So deeply does she burrow into the past that her readers are able to imagine it almost as clearly as if it were the present, reinvesting it with that knifeedge uncertainty with which we ourselves imagine the future . . . This is Dunant's fifth Renaissance novel, and like the rest sparkles with the kind of details that fires the imagination
A thrilling period vividly brought to life
An intimate knowledge of Renaissance history powers a story crackling with energy
Sarah Dunant's meticulously researched novel, In the Name of the Family, told us more about the papacy of Alexander VI than have countless academic texts
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
As vivid a recreation of the Renaissance past as its predecessor
Open it, and become utterly swept up; then, spend the next three days on Wikipedia googling Every. Single. Character.
Reading In the Name of the Family, I began to smell the scent of oranges and wood smoke on the Ferrara breeze. Such Renaissance-rich details fill out the humanity of the Borgias, rendering them into the kind of relatable figures whom we would hope to discover behind the cold brilliance of The Prince
Dunant has made completely her own the story of Italy's most infamous ruling family. Retaining the knack for plotting and pacing from the crime novels that began her career, she depicts history in a way that we can see, hear and smell . . . Dunant's Italian novels are an enthralling education
What distinguishes and elevates to the first order Sarah Dunant's series of five novels set in Renaissance Italy is that she combines flawless historical scholarship with beguiling storytelling . . . Dunant is sensitive to
contemporary echoes and so offers into the bargain a lesson from history for our divided age
Sarah Dunant's blood-drenched tale about the Borgias is gripping . . . Dunant's poetic style raises the novel above titillating gossip, and her striking imagery renders it as rich as a Pinturicchio fresco