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In the Company of the Courtesan

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In the Company of the Courtesan

By: Sarah Dunant
Narrated by: Tom Hollander
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About this listen

 'The pre-eminent novelist of Renaissance Italy' S. J. PARRIS, OBSERVER

'Dunant triumphs, like all good novelists: in a deft, shrewd, precise use of killer detail' CHRISTOBEL KENT, GUARDIAN

'She writes like a painter, and thinks like a philosopher . . . A tour de force of storytelling' AMANDA FOREMAN

'A writer of powerful historical imagination and wicked literary gifts' SIMON SCHAMA

With their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed, the courtesan Fiammetta and her companion dwarf Bucino escape the sack of Rome. It's 1527. They head for the shimmering, decadent city of Venice. Sarah Dunant's epic novel of sixteenth-century Renaissance Italy is a story about the sins of pleasure and the pleasures of sin, an intoxicating mix of fact and fiction, and a dazzling portait of one of the worlds greatest cities at its most potent moment in history.©2006 Sarah Dunant (P)2006 Time Warner AudioBooks Historical Fiction Fiction Heartfelt Italy Money Rome

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Critic reviews

"What makes this audiobook enthralling is the combination of elegantly satisfactory plotting, almost cinematically vivid settings, and characters with real depth. The reader, Tom Hollander, brings them all before us as real people." (The Times)

"An engrossing saga of period Italian sex and skulduggery, enlivened by evidence of the author's extensive research into 16th-century Venice." The Sunday Times
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This book must have one of literature's most surprising and unusual narrators. Emotionally retarded but quick-thinking dwarf Bucino. We see the lavish yet harsh environs of 16th century Italy through his eyes as the courtesan he serves flees Rome and re-establishes herself in Venice.
It's a rich tapestry of a tale that weaves itself through the colour of the times but at its heart lies humanity. We see Bucino unfold through his folly, feel his torment and his tragedy.
This version of the book is exquisitly read by actor Tom Hollander whose capacity to immerse himself in character is as embracing in voice as it is on the screen.
This will be a book that you cannot fail to remember.

Captivating Courtesan

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I loved this book, I have read it myself and was disappointed that it was an abridged version but the narration by Tom Hollander was wonderful, I'm hoping to find more books read by him.
I have read a few books by this author and hope to listen to them now on audible.

Wonderful

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