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Monday, August 23, 2010

HT Recommends: Books Set in Venice

Faith L. Justice says:

I checked out your recommendations but didn't find anything set in Venice 12-16C. I had a request from a colleague for good historical novels set in this time and place. It’s the topic of a Humanities West program in San Francisco, and he's responsible for making reading recommendations to the audience. Any recommendations?

Since some of us do like Italian history it was actually a nice challenge to look for books with this theme. Here's what we found:


13th Century
Mark Frutkin  - The Lion of Venice

14th Century
G. A. Henty - The Lion of St. Mark: A tale of Venice in the 14th Century

15th Century
Barbara Cherne - Bella Donna
Elizabeth Eyre - Dirge for a Doge
George Herman - A Comedy of Murders
Michelle Lovric - The Floating Book
Elle Newmark - Bones of The Dead
Elle Newmark - The Book of Unholy Mischief
Thomas Quinn - The Lion of St Mark
Thomas Quinn - The Sword of Venice
Donna Raven - Daughter of Venice, Queen of Cyprus
Barry Unsworth - The Stone Virgin

16th Century
Federico Andahazi - The Anatomist
James Cowan  - A Mapmaker's Dream: The meditations of Fra Mauro, cartographer to the court of Venice
Edward Charles - Daughters of The Doge
Sarah Dunant  - In the Company of the Courtesan
Robert Elegant - Bianca
George Herman - Carnival of Saints
Erica Jong - Serenissima
Kay MacCauley - The Man Who Was Loved
Lauro Martines - Loredana: a Venetian tale
Donna Jo Napoli - Daughter of Venice


Unfortunately nothing from the 12th century and only one title for both the 13th and 14th century so other suggestions are very welcome. Can anyone come up with more titles?
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6 comments:

  1. Elizabeth Kerri MahonAugust 23, 2010 at 6:07 PM

    Thanks for this! I've been in love with Venice and Italy ever since I went to Carnevale several years ago. I can't wait to get started on these books.

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  2. AnonymousAugust 23, 2010 at 6:15 PM

    Thanks so much! I'll let my friend know about these.

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  3. HeatherAugust 23, 2010 at 8:46 PM

    I really enjoyed In the Hands of the Living God, set in Venice during the Age of Exploration in the 15th century. Full synopsis here: http://www.tidespoint.com/books/in_the_hands.shtml

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  4. ShelleyAugust 24, 2010 at 12:25 AM

    Far from the time and place of my writing, but my Latin teacher in high school was Italian,steeped in their history, and was the most brilliant intellectual I've ever known.

    So this is of interest.

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  5. AnonymousDecember 10, 2012 at 4:07 AM

    the fallen blade by jon courtney grimwood

    ReplyDelete
  6. Black Rose Dragon LadyFebruary 26, 2014 at 7:43 AM

    Hi I would like to purchase Donna Raven's book about Daughter of Venice, How can I do this since I can't find it anywhere?

    ReplyDelete