In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant
In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant
3 Rating(s)
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In the Company of the Courtesan

Author: Sarah Dunant

Narrator: Richard Grant

Abridged: 5 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/14/2006


Synopsis

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.

About The Author

Sarah Dunant has written nine novels and edited two books of essays. She has worked widely in print, television, and radio, and until recently hosted the leading BBC Radio arts program, "Night Waves". Now a full-time writer, she is adapting her novels Transgressions and Mapping the Edge for the screen. Dunant has two children and lives in London and Florence.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Federico on February 03, 2023

An ambitious prostitute, a cunning dwarf, and a perilous business to get to the top. In this novel we learn the story of "Fiammetta", a prominent prostitute of the roman court; and his ever faithful servant "Bucino", an intrepid dwarf, as much cunning as his mistress beauty. Thanks to the courtesa......more

Goodreads review by Icey on November 20, 2021

I probably cannot express how clever Sarah Dunant is with my words. She weaved everything together with ease, the sentence flowed, the story flourished, and the characters were all alive in front of you. You grew to love all of them. You breathed with them, feeling the freezing morning air of Venice......more

Goodreads review by Alice on December 25, 2016

After reading “Blood & Beauty: The Borgias”, I always wanted to read another novel by Sarah Dunant. At some Goodreads friends’ nudge, I decided to pick this one up. Throughout the first three-quarters of the book I was more emotionally twined with the character of the dwarf Bucino than I would care......more