To Lie with Lions

by Dorothy Dunnett Narrated by John Banks

Overview

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 fifteenth 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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Nicholas de Fleury, cosmopolitan merchant banker of late-15th century Venice, burgher of Bruges, master manipulator who craves absolute personal power, stands at the dawn of the modern age, shedding light on our own. In this sixth engrossing installment of her House of Niccolo saga (following The Unicorn Hunt), Scottish novelist Dunnett focuses on her scheming, autocratic, charming hero's startlingly modern open marriage to quick-witted, self-sufficient Gelis van Borselen. It's a war of wills, egos and attrition that erupts in 1471 as de Fleury (aka Nicholas vander Poele) snatches his infant son, Jordan, from Gelis's arms and kidnaps the boy, a pawn in a bitter power struggle that will take the lives of friends and rivals. Nicholas, who often resembles a mercenary or soldier of fortune more than he does a banker, serves multiple masters, working secretly for French King Louis XI while openly advising Charles, Duke of Burgundy and Scottish King James III. With her usual dramatic flair, Dunnett mixes historical and fictive characters in a tale that sweeps from Venice to Antwerp, Edinburgh, Iceland, France and Cyprus, where Nicholas undertakes a diplomatic mission to James de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia. High adventure, high finance, war, piracy and royal intrigue enliven a historical romance that seems unerringly realistic in its quicksilver evocation of a world where happiness is fleeting and usually unexpected. (June)

Kirkus Reviews

It is some measure of Dunnett's prodigious energy that the sixth volume in her ongoing series about the adventures of Nicholas de Fleury, a charismatic Renaissance-era rogue/merchant prince (The Unicorn Hunt, 1994, etc.) begins with a seven-page list of series characters.

And it's some indication of her considerable narrative talents that the complex schemes and obscure quests of her protagonist remain generally gripping through the course of a 600-page novel. Like earlier entrants in the series, this latest offers a dazzling portrait of Europe's courts and countinghouses in the 15th century. Set during the turbulent years 147173, the novel follows Nicholas as he extends the influence of his trading house, the Banco di Niccolò, deftly plays both sides in the war between King Louis of France and the Duke of Burgundy, and attempts to survive the efforts of the Vataddino, a shadowy rival trading empire, to destroy him. There's also a vividly rendered expedition to Iceland that includes a remarkable battle at sea and concludes with Nicholas's supposed death. Of course, he survives, once again confounding his enemies. At the heart of the story, though, is his battle of wits and wills with his estranged wife Gelis, the only person who can match his inspired schemes. Blaming him for the death of her sister, she has set out to humble him, even going so far as to work for the Vataddino. To best her, to avenge old wrongs, and out of sheer Machiavellian bravado, Nicholas sets in motion a plot that could destroy the Scottish throne, damage the Vataddino, and (he thinks) win Gelis back. But for once, even the King of Secrets (as he's called) cannot control the outcome.

Dunnett's pace is robust, her grasp of the Renaissance mind subtle and convincing. But the self-absorbed Nicholas is becoming, after 3,000-plus pages of text, a bit wearing. That isn't enough, though, to much tarnish the best modern series of historical fiction.

From the erudite Markson (Wittgenstein's Mistress, 1990, not reviewed; etc.): a terse, modernist novel implying that history is over, the arts finished—yet offering extended, Beckett- like pleasures.

"Reader" is the speaker here, and he speaks about "Protagonist." Plot and event? "Someone nodded hello to Reader on the street yesterday" pretty much takes care of the action side of things. More crucially, Reader declares that "I am growing older. I have been in hospitals," and asks, "Do I wish to put certain things down?" Indeed he does: and the remainder of the book consists of Reader's aphoristic recollections of a lifetime of—well, reading. As these "memories" accumulate, Reader does have other questions—whether, as novelist, he should have "Protagonist" live on a beach or beside a cemetery (and if a cemetery, who is the woman Protagonist sees coming there each day to mourn?). Other questions include the familiar "What is a novel in any case?" Reader conjectures that he's creating "in some peculiar way. . . an autobiography," and asks whether it's "Nonlinear? Discontinuous? Collage-like?" (Answers: Yes, yes, and yes.) "Protagonist has come to this place because he had no life back there at all," explains Reader as he continues with his indefatigable, funny, often terribly wrenching tapestry of facts both known and obscure ("Vachel Lindsay committed suicide by drinking Lysol"), quotations homely and exotic ("O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!"), opinions of all literary sorts ("On the evidence, Shakespeare's small Latin was plainly more than that"), and assertions in a continuing refrain "Arnold Toynbee was an anti-Semite").

A novel, in all, for the ultra-readerly only, though in its own way often deeply melancholy, suggestive, and moving. "Nothing bores me more than political novels and the literature of social intent, Nabokov said" is followed by "Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang." Nabokov speaks for Markson's aesthetic aims, while Shakespeare synopsizes the personal wistfulness and deep sorrow permeating this remarkable book.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178346280
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	06/20/2023
Series:	House of Niccolò , #6
Edition description:	Unabridged

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