Blood & Beauty

I’ve loved Sarah Dunant’s novels for years, so when I saw that Blood and Beauty was available for review, I jumped at the chance to read it. It tells the story of the Borgia family, specifically Lucrezia, and follows them from Rodrigo Borgia’s ascension to the papacy (and pope Alexander) in 1492 to Lucrezia’s third marriage to Alfonso d’Este in 1502. Rodrigo Borgia’s rise to power was much in keeping with the mores of the time period in which his lived. He even Italianized his name from Borja to Borgia. He and his four children, as well as his mistresses, became symbols of the power, splendor, and decadence of the Papal court in the late 15th century.

It’s really, really hard to write fiction about the Borgia family without show more completely vilifying or vindicating them, but Dunant does a wonderful job of showing both the strengths and weaknesses of these people. They’re ruthless and cunning, but they don’t seem (at first) as bad as history has made them out to be. There’s this wonderful scene about halfway through the novel, where Cesare Borgia gores a boar; the way the scene is described, it serves as a strong metaphor for not only the dangers of the Papal court, but the savageness of Cesare’s character. That’s the kind of fiction I love; the kind of writing that shows you how something is without explicitly saying so. It makes people, places and events seem so much more real. Dunant’s focus is on stripping away the myths in order to reveal the psychological truths that lie beneath the surface.

According to the author’s note at the end, there will be a second novel that will cover the conclusion of Lucrezia’s story. show less

"...these days saints are in short supply, particularly inside the Roman conclave of cardinals."

Sarah Dunant sculpts a historical novel as fine as any marble creation from the Renaissance Europe in which it takes place. "Blood & Beauty" is a novel of the Borgia family - born in Spain, but risen to the top of the cultural, military and religious ladders of the late 15th century and early 16th.

Patriach, Rodrigo Borgia is better known as Pope Alexander VI, who utilized his wealth, in equal parts with his political savvy, to climb to the head of Christendom. He emerged from a locked conclave in a Rome that's turning the corner out of a deep and dark middle age. Renaissance is blooming. Perhaps born in Florence but its seeds spread and show more taking form in the Eternal City. Dunant is comfortable in her brightly colored turn of phrase, and in this example drawing Renaissance Rome to life, "Church wealth and city growth rising entwined out of the fertile soil of corruption."

"Power bought or power born?"

Rome and the life of the Borgias is nothing if not dramatic: snakes in flesh with fangs of poison, real and metaphorical. Cesare is his eldest son, forced into church life to secure a future generation Borgia pope. Juan is Alexander's favorite, though not nearly as talented or savvy as his eldest brother. Lucrezia is the beautiful and blossoming young woman, and finally comes poor Jofre, uncomfortable in his own skin.

Pope Alexander loves his children though they are equally flesh and blood as well as pieces to be moved across the chessboard of Italian and Papal politics. While the story of the Borgias has become a thing of legend and myth, their activities were far from hidden even in their day. It was written, "God preserve the family that brings them so much theater."

Dunant fills in the blank spaces of the well known Borgia family drama while building her story around a most fascinating time in history. There's drama and there's melodrama. The characters are three dimensional, but Dunant can't help but create some cliches.

If you're looking for a historical romance, look elsewhere. If you're looking for character and historical drama, then this is a clear winner.

I received this book through the Amazon Vine program. show less

I must admit that I don't usually enjoy Sarah Dunant books, having tried all three of her most popular works, including "The Birth of Venus." I always felt as if I couldn't quite connect with the characters, and that there was something off or stilted about the writing style. Dunant is a talented writer, but I just accepted the fact that her books weren't for me, although it did always annoy me that I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
When this one came out, I went against my decision to leave Dunant to other readers, because I am fascinated with the Borgias. And I am so very glad that I did! This book ended up being everything that I could hope for in a novel about the Borgias, or in a historical fiction novel, for that matter.
I'm show more not quite sure why I always felt so flatly distanced from Dunant's characters in her other books - but in this one, I was unable to put it down, completely immersed in the fascinating, lavishly dark story. The Borgias were such a drama-filled family, there's so much shocking material that it would be difficult to write a book that's not exciting. And yet, I also appreciated the details of the lavish and opulent setting, and the vivid characters themselves. Lucrezia was the character that I found most memorable and realistic, and her cold brother Cesare was chillingly sinister.
Corruption, rivalries, power struggles, dark secrets, passionate affairs, and of course the infamous incest story - it's all here.
With such material, it would be easy for a book to slip into the feeling of... off-putting sensationalism, as I have found in other Borgia HF. I did not get that impression at all in this book. Perhaps Dunant's more reserved, serious writing lends itself well to such a soap opera type story.
Recommended. show less

I was disappointed with this book. I've read and loved several other books by Sarah Dunant, but this one didn't live up to the others. My feeling is that she got so involved with her research and wanting to retell the historical events from the point of view she had adopted, that she somehow forgot to create credible and fully formed characters. In wanting to present a more "balanced" view of the Borgias, who, based on recent historical research, appear not to have been the monsters they've been made out to be—indeed, the current thinking is they behaved in a way congruent with the times they lived in—the story seemed to me to lack the excitement and spice one would have expected from the title. Yes, there is murder and plenty of show more blood is spilled, but somehow all this seems to be at a remove, as seen from the eyes of a historian rather than a talented fiction writer. While her other books have all carried me away and made me want to follow the flow of her stories and live with the characters for a while, this one felt stiff and formulaic and frankly, rather boring in the end. I'm still giving it a decent rating because I'm a great lover of historical fiction and Dunant certainly did her homework in that sense, but this is not the book I would recommend to someone new to her writing. show less

While reading this fictionalized account about Pope Alexander VI (who ascended to the papacy in 1492) and his children (who included Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia), I kept googling to check on the facts, because what Dunant wrote seemed too outrageous to be true. Alas, not only does she adhere meticulously to the historical record, but when there is ambiguity, she gives the characters the benefit of the doubt. She fleshes out what is known with imagined dialogue, but her story draws so heavily on the known historical record that it hardly seems like fiction at all. More is the pity, unfortunately, because, as one of the characters observes, the Vatican in those days was more like a bordello than a court. Moreover, children, money, and show more cardinalships were scandalously traded for political gains. Enemies of the papacy were routinely poisoned or dumped into the Tiber River.

One of this Pope’s weaknesses was perceived to be his great love for his children, although Dunant makes the case that in addition to his parental affection, the Pope relied on their loyalty in the treacherous atmosphere of 15th Century Rome to support his (and their) advancement. To that end, he first married off his favorite son Juan, but Juan was murdered in 1497, possibly by the jealous second son Cesare. Cesare was made a cardinal by his father at age 18, and after Juan’s death, became his father’s chief advisor. The Pope’s daughter Lucrezia was married off to secure a political liaison when Lucrezia was 13. A younger brother Jofre was married off at age 12. All of these arrangements were made to consolidate the power of the Pope.

Lucrezia ended up being married three times; her first two husbands were deemed expendable after changes in the balance of power, and they were done away with, again probably by Cesare.

You may be wondering how it is that Pope Alexander VI, originally Rodrigo Borgia, had all these children. Mistresses were common at the time, and indeed, many of the cardinals in Rome evinced the tell-tale blush of syphillis. [The first written records of an outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during the French invasion. After the departure of the French, the Italians - visiting the same prostitutes, became infected with the “French Disease” in turn. Cesare Borgia was among the cardinals who suffered from the disease.]

Dunant follows the family (and all of its extensions) over the ten years following Borgia’s election as Pope. The machinations of the family have inspired a large number of books and movies, for good reason. [It should also be noted that Niccolò Machiavelli, the author of the famous 16th-century political treatise, The Prince, based some of his principles of the effective uses of power on the policies of Cesare Borgia. Thus, not surprisingly, "Machiavellian" became an epithet for someone known for treachery, ambition, and ruthlessness.] In the life of the Borgias, and in this book, there is plenty of sex, violence, intrigue, scandal, betrayal, and just all around bad behavior. In other words, there is never a dull moment. If it hadn’t been pretty much true, I would have declared it absurdly unrealistic. I’m still disappointed I can’t do that.

Evaluation: This is a fascinating and eye-opening look at the unsavory and infamous goings-on behind the Vatican doors at the end of the 15th Century and beginning of the 16th. Dunant is apparently working on a sequel. show less

In the historical epilogue to this lush novel author Sarah Dunant says

"More than many in history, the Borgias have suffered from an excess of bad press. While their behavior--personal and political--was often brutal and corrupt, they lived in brutal and corrupt times; and the thirst for diplomatic gossip and scandal, along with undoubted prejudice against their Spanish nationality, played its part in embellishing what was already a colorful story. Once the slander was abroad, much of it was incorporated into the historical record without being challenged. Spin, it seems, was a political art long before the modern word was introduced.

Subtitled, The Borgias, A Novel, this book is part of my reading list for consideration for the Maine show more Readers Choice Award. It certainly is a worthy entry into the ring. While I had heard of the Borgias and their corruption over the years, I don't think I'd ever read anything that presented the story of this infamous family in such detail. Certainly authors have leeway when writing fiction, and Dunant makes no claim to have us see this as a biography. She has steeped herself in the history of the era, becoming as familiar as possible with source material, both fictional and archival. Her previous books, such as Birth of Venus, In the Company of the Courtesan, and Sacred Hearts, have shown her mastery of the language, the customs, the politics and the scenery of the era but with fictional characters. In this one, she tackles historical characters, treading carefully among the information available to present us with a plausible rendition of this well-known and oft-villified family.

Pope Alexander VI, born Rodrigo Borgia, ascends the throne of Peter after some intense backstage maneuvering. He promptly makes his illegitimate son Cesare a cardinal at the age of 19, and begins marrying off his other children to various royal partners to form alliances to bolster his political ambitions. This is a time when Italy was still not a unified country, existing instead as series of city-states, when the Holy Roman Empire was gradually disintegrating, when Spain's power was on the rise. A Spaniard by birth, Alexander had to tread carefully through the politics of Italy, using the power of his office, as well as his love for his family to enhance his power, his wealth, and his ego.

His son Cesare, is a power hungry young man, well loved by all the ladies, unscrupulous in his relations with both church and state. The world has been fed stories about Cesare's relationship with his sister Lucrezia, the Pope's only and very beloved daughter. Dunant treats this relationship carefully, never allowing the undocumented rumors to overtake other possibilities. Certainly the two were close, but here they are portrayed as being very politically astute siblings who are under the tight rein of their father the Pope. While they may have been pawns and playthings, the author is careful to also let us see the power these women held in the male dominated arena.

Dunant gives us a richly drawn portrait of the Pope, his off-spring, his enemies, his mistresses and relations, his offspring, his warts, his dealings with foreign countries, all the while showing us possibilities of humanity not often attributed to this family. In addition, the customs, the fashions, and the history of the period are intricately described, taking the reader back to a time of rich but vile corruption, political perfidy, and horrifying treachery.

Historical fiction doesn't get much better than this. This is definitely Dunant's best work. I read somewhere that there may be a sequel in the offing. Let's hope so. There's much more to this story that deserves a well-researched, objective, and humane look.

I also sampled a significant part of this one in audio. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini does a stellar job of giving us the characters in different voices, accents, and attitudes. The print copy includes an excellent family tree and map of the different political entities of the era, a definite plus for those of us needing a history refresher. show less

I was given this book by the organisers of the Sydney Writer's Festval in 2013, as part of the gift bag they gave their volunteers.

I need to say at the outset, this is the type of book I tend to steer clear of - I prefer contemporary (or at least C20) and I font like BIG books because they're uncomfortable to hold in bed and I tend to get bored with them half way through. However, I heard a Sarah Dunant interview on ABC RN, she is a very good promoter of her books and I got caught up in wondering who the. Borgia's were - especially Lucrezia, and so I dove in.

This is what I liked - learning about the nature of the times: the lifestyle, clothes, colours and smells. The power and political intrigues of the families and church - it's show more difficult to draw comparisons with anything but the mafia. Actually , it's like the strongest family ends up running the church (though Christendom at this time ~1500, seems to be centred around Italy, Spain and France. I like how historical facts are swept into the story - syphillis and, sorry to put them in the same sentence, Michangelo and DaVinci.

I liked the story - the Borgia', they have a reputation that doesn't seem to line up with the times, and what they actually did. I got pulled into the story though everything was signalled before it happened, I just kept hoping it wouldn't happen. I cheered our heroine and booed the baddie (Cesare was a sociopath) and found the godfather! I mean Pope Alexander a big lump of fatherly love (cept he only really loved his immediate family and mistress, everyone else was either a pawn or the enemy). Forgot to forget, there was open papal fornication during this period, just no wives.

What I didn't like ... 528p too long - the middle section groaned, but fortunately picked up a pace the last 150 pages. Also, sometimes the language was so contemporary it was jarring, just didn't fit the times - whilst none of the characters ever actually said 'awesome', sometimes their words had the same effect.

Whilst it's unlikely I'll read any of Sarah Dunants other books, if she writes a sequel (and I think the ending of this book points to one) I'll read it because the research is amazing and I want to find out more about Lucrezia (as well as reading hopefully that Cesare had extended periods of pain and misery before his death). show less