Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2017
448 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
The author of Blood and Beauty returns with another captivating novel about Renaissance Italy and one of history's most notorious families. Before the Corleones, before the Lannisters, there was the Borgias.
Bestselling novelist Sarah Dunant has long been drawn to the high drama of Renaissance Italy: power, passion, beauty, brutality, and the ties of blood. With In the Name of the Family, she offers a thrilling exploration of the House of Borgia's final years, in the company of a young diplomat named Niccolò Machiavelli.
It is 1502 and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womanizer and master of political corruption, is now on the papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, aged twenty-two—already three times married and a pawn in her father's plans—is discovering her own power. And then there is his son Cesare Borgia, brilliant, ruthless, and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with Machiavelli that gives the Florentine diplomat a master class in 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 increasingly erratic behavior, it is Lucrezia who must navigate the treacherous court of Urbino, her new home, and another challenging marriage to create her own place in history.
Sarah Dunant again employs her remarkable gifts as a storyteller to bring to life the passionate men and women of the Borgia family, as well as the ever-compelling figure of Machiavelli, through whom the reader will experience one of the most fascinating—and doomed—dynasties of all time.
"Although the author occasionally gets caught up in some of the distracting internecine workings of factions against the pope (their opponents were many), Dunant is at her best focusing on the three Borgias" - Publishers Weekly
"With a vibrant cast of characters both iconic, including the vastly influential Niccolò Machiavelli, and rarely highlighted, Dunant's captivating Renaissance Italian saga will thrill her fans and bring more into the fold." - Booklist
"Skillfully drawn characters and an excellent sense of place will entice readers of historicals, especially those who are interested in the Italian Renaissance." - Library Journal
"Flawed but not without interest—sort of like the Borgias themselves." - Kirkus Reviews
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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Sarah Dunant is a writer, broadcaster and critic. She was born in London and studied history at Cambridge. After a brief spell working for the BBC, she spent much of her twenties traveling (Japan, India, Asia and Central and South America) before starting to write. Her first two novels, were written with a friend. She then went solo.
She is the author of eight novels including the international bestseller The Birth of Venus, which has received major worldwide acclaim, and In the Company of the Courtesan.
She has also written two screenplays and edited two books of essays. She has worked in television and radio as a presenter and a producer, is a patron of the Orange Prize for women's fiction, sits on the editorial board of the Royal Academy magazine and reviews for The Times, The ...
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