In The Company of The Courtesan

Összefoglaló

I spent last fall living in Venice, which is less an ordinary city than a fantasy of bridges, domes, water, and light that has barely changed (in appearance, at least) since its glory days almost 500 years ago. Sarah Dunant's new historical novel, IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN, is set mostly in this cryptic and magical place, and reading it, for me, was a little like going back. But the book is not strong on atmosphere alone. It left me quite convinced that every would-be historical novelist should first take a course in thriller-writing. Dunant's exceptionally intelligent, literate, sexy suspense novels preceded her forays into historical fiction, and the discipline of creating a swiftly moving narrative that develops and resolves on several levels seems to have carried over. Too many contributions to this newly trendy genre seem devoid of tension while bloated with the sort of period detail that serves to show off the writer's copious research rather than to advance the story. In contrast, THE BIRTH OF VENUS --- Dunant's first historical novel, set in 15th-century Florence --- and now IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN are lean, psychologically acute, richly imagined tales that evoke the Italian past with beauty and power.