To Lie with Lions: Book Six of The House of Niccolo (House of Niccolo Series #6)
Description
With the bravura storytelling and pungent authenticity of detail she brought to her acclaimed Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett, grande dame of the historical novel, presents The House of Niccolò series. The time is the 15th century, when intrepid merchants became the new knighthood of Europe. Among them, none is bolder or more cunning than Nicholas vander Poele of Bruges, the good-natured dyer's apprentice who schemes and swashbuckles his way to the helm of a mercantile empire.
The year is 1471. Within the circus of statecraft, where the lions of Burgundy, Cyprus, England, and Venice stalk and snarl, Nicholas wields a valued whip. Having wrested his little son Jordan from his estranged wife, Gelis, he embarks on the greatest business scheme of his life-- beginning with a journey to Iceland. But while Nicholas confronts merchant knights, polar bears, and the frozen volcanic wastelands of the North, a greater challenge awaits: the vengeful Gelis, whose secrets threaten to topple all Nicholas has achieved. Here is Dorothy Dunnett at her best. Robustly paced, prodigiously detailed, To Lie with Lions renders the quicksands of Renaissance politics as well as the turnings of the human soul, from love to hate and back.
Praise for To Lie with Lions: Book Six of The House of Niccolo (House of Niccolo Series #6)
"Complex and entertaining . . . truly epic . . . Dunnett's great gift is to combine fascinating period settings and genuine historical events with characters of wit, deep emotion and strong desires . . . . New and old fans of Dunnett's fiction will be enthralled." --Booklist
"Gripping . . . vividly rendered . . . a dazzling portrait of Europe's courts and countinghouses in the 15th century . . . the best modern series of historical fiction." --Kirkus Reviews
"The finest living writer of historical fiction"--The Washington Post Book World