The Spring of the Ram: The House of Niccolo 2 - Softcover

Dunnett, Dorothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140113592 ISBN 13: 9780140113594

Publisher: Penguin, 1988

Synopsis

The exquisitely-researched standaloneprequel series to Dorothy Dunnett's revered Lymond Chronicles, following theancestors of Francis Crawford of Lymond in Continental Europe.

In 1461, the mysterious enigmatic Nicholas is in Florence. Backed by none other than Cosimo de' Medici, he will sail the Black Sea to Trebizond, last outpost of Byzantium, and the last jewel missing from the crown of the Ottoman Empire. But trouble lies ahead. Nicholas's step-daughter - at the tender age of thirteen - has eloped with his rival in trade: a Machiavellian Genoese who races ahead of Nicholas, sowing disaster at every port. And time is of the essence: Trebizond may fall tot he Turks at any moment. Crackling with wit, breathtakingly paced, THE SPRING OF THE RAM is a pyro technic blend of scholarship and narrative shimmering with the scents, sounds, colors and combustible emotions of the 15th century.

About this title

Review:

Praise for Dorothy Dunnett

(- -)

A storyteller who could teach Scheherazade a thing or two about pace, suspense and imaginative invention (- New York Times)

Marvellous, breathtaking

(- The Times)

A masterpiece of historical fiction (- Washington Post)

One of the greatest tale-spinners since Dumas (- Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Lashings of excitement, colour and subtlety (- The Times)

Vivid, engaging, densely plotted - are almost certainly destined to be counted among the classics of popular fiction (- New York Times)

About the Author:

Frequently described as the finest historical fiction writer of her time, Dorothy Dunnett earned worldwide acclaim for her blend of scholarship and imagination. She is best known for her two superb series of historical fiction - The Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolo - set in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and ranging across Europe and the Mediterranean, and for King Hereafter, the eleventh-century story of Earl Thorfinn of Orkney whom Dorothy believed was also King Macbeth. In 1992, Dorothy Dunnett was awarded the OBE for her services to literature, and in 2014 Dunnett's most enduring hero, Francis Crawford of Lymond, was voted Scotland's favourite literary character - beating the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter and Ivanhoe. Dunnett died 9 November 2001, having sold half a million copies internationally.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0140113592
• ISBN 13: 9780140113594
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592