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Blood & Beauty

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Blood & Beauty

By: Sarah Dunant
Narrated by: John Telfer
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Acclaimed novelist of the Italian Renaissance Sarah Dunant now takes on the era's most infamous family: the Borgias.

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 in 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 to succeed.

His eldest son Cesare, a dazzlingly cold intelligence and an even colder soul, is his greatest - though increasingly unstable - weapon. Later immortalised in Machiavelli's The Prince, he provides the energy and the muscle. His daughter Lucrezia, beloved by both men, is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens, hers is a journey through three marriages: 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.©2013 Sarah Dunant Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Middle Ages Italy
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Critic reviews

The pre-eminent novelist of Renaissance Italy . . . Blood & Beauty is a high-class, colourful Renaissance soap opera, and one that will leave readers itching for the next instalment (Stephanie Merritt aka S. J. Parris)
This is Dunant's fourth Renaissance novel and she is in her element . . . She brings 15th century Italian cities vividly alive - the lawlessness and violence, the diseased and damaged bodies, the debauchery and corpses . . . an intelligent and passionate book (Lucy Atkins)
Wonderful . . . from a master of historical fiction . . . an ambitious, thrilling read from a novelist at the height of her powers. The Borgias leap from the page . . . the book offers total immersion in an alien Rome . . . A comparison to Wolf Hall is not out of place here (Viv Groskop)
Gripping . . . a must read for anyone interested in the period, and for those who simply enjoy intelligent historical fiction
Hugely enjoyable . . . From the outset Dunant takes possession of her sprawling, unwieldy material. She sets up a resonant dynamic between the political - the dangerous machinations of the papal conclave - and the domestic . . . it is in her asides that Dunant triumphs, like all good novelists: in a deft, shrewd, precise use of killer detail . . . it is difficult not to look forward to the next ride on an old-fashioned rollercoaster of a story (Christobel Kent)
A wonderful novel - taking you deep into the world of Renaissance passion and the Renaissance papacy. Part of me was happily lost in the time travel, part of me repeatedly struck by how vividly ancient Rome met modern Rome, and how the city of history came to life (Mary Beard)
What a marvellous feast of vices and desires Sarah Dunant gives us in Blood & Beauty - lust and ambition, passion and power, destiny born and bought. The Borgias are arguably the most intriguing and ruthless family in all of history, and Dunant brings them ravishingly, bristlingly to life. Absolutely convincing on every page. I was enthralled (Paula McLain, author of THE PARIS WIFE)
Blood & Beauty is a fascinating read full of vivid detail and human pathos. Dunant opens a window into the extraordinary machinations and skullduggery of the Borgias and provides us with a richness of description that beautifully locates them within their own time (Amanda Foreman)
The Machiavellian atmosphere - hedonism, lust, political intrigue - is magnetic . . . Readers won't want the era of Borgia rule to end
All stars
Most relevant
The recent BBC Radio4 serialisation (Book at Bedtime) didn't do this book anywhere near the justice it deservies and I'm glad that it didn't put me off this unadbridged version, which is quite simply outstanding. Maybe even on a par with Wolf Hall? The narration is superb.

Outstanding

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I remember reading The Birth of Venus years ago and finding it gripping. And whenever I’ve heard Sarah Dunant talk on the radio I’ve found her well-informed and clearly passionate about her era of specialisation and Italy, about which I’m quite passionate too, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this book. Unfortunately it just hasn’t worked for me. I’m sure the research is meticulous, but the characters seem wooden and inauthentic. And for all the sumptuousness of the descriptions, I just can’t “see” the world described or the people who inhabit it. The narrator’s voice doesn’t help - too shouty and gruff without attenuation, and almost laughable with female voices. At least he pronounces Italian names correctly! But after a couple of tries I’ve given up at about the half-way point, finding this book ... well, a bit silly.


Disappointing

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Intrigue, blood, death, fascinating characters. Loved it. Beautifully written with wonderfully evocative imagery. Well read although sometimes distracting falsetto used for the female roles.

Gripped after a slow start

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Superb. Can't wait to start the sequel. And fabulous narration. An epic story told masterfully.

Why did it end?

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Like all really good historical novels, this one creates characters who are both psychologically plausible and of their time. The reader is outstanding - one of the best!

Compelling and very enjoyable

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