janalyn, Kath mentioned having read this few weeks ago and I have my order in with the local library. It has had good reviews in the UK press.

Thanks, I was hoping someone would post a review. It has caught my eye.

Yes, I loved this too, enjoyed it even more than The Birth of Venus, which I thought was great.
Great history, well written.

This book has been on my radar for awhile now. Thanks so much for posting your review, I'm going to move it up the tbr list.

Wow, what a painting. That's when a womanly figure was the standard of beauty as opposed to looking like a heroin addict or boxer. But what is going on in the background?

Two maids are going through some clothes chests, if I remember correctly. I just returned my copy to the library yesterday but when more of you have had a chance to read it, why don't we discuss it here?

This is definitely on my want to read list ... if we do plan a discussion, it'll get me motivated to read it sooner rather than later (I still have The Birth of Venus sitting here unread lo these many months since I bought it).

I have this book on my TBR shelf. Glad to hear people are liking it

FYI, Barnes and Noble online is sponsoring a reading group for this book with Sarah Dunant. It is free, you just have to register and starts April 3rd.

Here is a link that might be useful: Barnes & Noble Reading Group

I just picked up this book, this past weekend, im anxious to read it. what genre would those who have read In the Company of a Courtesean place it under?

Im glad to see this has been enjoyed, I just finsihed The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant and enjoyed it, im hoping this is just as good

I've just started this and am loving it so far. I think I am going to like it better than "Birth of Venus." I'm especially enjoying the personality of the dwarf and fine descriptions of details of Venice.

This has only just come out in the UK and I think I am one of many on the waiting list at the library.

I have a question for those who have read this novel:

ATTENTION; SPOILER AHEAD!

With regard to the young daughter of La Draga, who is her father??? Are we to assume it is the young lover of the courtesan, Vittorio Foscari? This is hinted at in the narrative but is never quite spelled out in full. (Or did I miss something?)

Comments welcome.

I purposely stayed away from this thread until I finished the book and now I find there is no discussion!

I liked it so so. Yes, Sarah Dunant has a way with words, but I wish she spent as much time developing her plots as she does researching her history. As she says herself, "I am a fiction writer not a historian." Could have fooled me. I enjoyed the first half of the book but then I started wondering if the story was going anywhere.

Basically, after the sack of Rome a courtesan and her dwarf pimp leave for Venise to rebuild their life. And that's pretty much the whole story, until the last few chapters when there are revelations about a secondary character which barely have an impact on the main protagonists. These two, by the way, are never in any danger of anything meaningful happening to them.

*****SPOILER****
Woodnymph, I doubt it's the young lover, he is only 17 and the little girl seems to be at least 3 or 4. It is explicitely stated that he lost his virginity with Fiametta.

"He lost his virginity" sounds funny to me. To my non-English ear the connotation of the word virgin is a maiden. But perhaps virgin is neutral to a native speaker? Is there no English word for when a boy has his first sexual experience? In Swedish a boy loses his "svendom", where "sven" is the same word as English "swain" and "dom" is "hood".

Marianne in Sweden