selenak

The third volume in Jo Graham's series about Giulia Farnese is compelling Renaissance romp, full of fascinating personalities, political intrigue and emotional crisis. (You can read my review of the first Giulia novel here, and of the second here.) Incidentally, it's eerie how these novels fit with contemporary events. The last one which dealt with the papal elections, and one key point it makes was no, it does matter which candidate succeeds, sneering that one is like the other gets you into the abyss fast, and now this one features the French Invasion of Italy. (No need to name the many wars and invasions currently happening.) It coincides with the first big personal crisis between our heroine and her beloved, Rodrigo Borgia aka Pope Alexander VI., which Graham uses to expertly tie the personal and political story together.

Not just when (historical spoiler) Giulia falls into the hands of the invading French.

Writing a believable romance where you as a reader accept that both partners are good for each other in a historical context where on the face of it the power is wildly uneven (Rodrigo: isn't just decades older, but the Pope, and a lot of the newly gained fortunes of the Farnese family hail from that) is no mean feat, but Jo Graham manages it. By which I mean: neither is Giulia a hapless victim nor is she a 21st century woman. She does have in-universe alternate possibilities, - not least because one of the original aims of the French Invasion is to depose Rodrigo, after all - and history loving me appreciates that another temptation lies into doing what Pico della Mirandola did, go all repenting sinner and join Team Savanarola. Excess in austere faith was as much a feature of the age as loving art and pleasure was.

Another great aspect of this latest novel is that characters that previously were mostly off page and just mentioned - Giulia's mother - get more fleshed out, and Lucrezia Borgia, who is now fourteen, has believably transitioned from the sweet, cheerful little girl she was introduced as in the first volume to a teenager who can be brattish (not to mention hormonal), but also retains her capacity for passionate loyalty and friendship. The previous book already had Giulia observe that of Rodrigo's children, it might be Lucrezia who is most like him, and in this volume we get further proof as Lucrezia develops an eye for the boys and thinks rules are for other people, but if push comes to shove, she has your back, and she's great at detecting when that might be - and offer sensible solutions. Any novel which makes the Giulia and Lucrezia friendship an important part has my sword.

Early cameo of a future Renaissance VIP: not so much King Charles (though he does show eventually) but Giulio de' Medici, illegitimate son of the murdered Giuliano and future Pope. (For Brits: the one who really could not give Henry VIII. an annulment because Katherine of Aragon's nephew's troops were RIGHT THERE. For French readers: the one who arranged for his fourteen years old niece Catherine to get married to future Henri II of France. ) (I mean, the cast being what it is, future Popes are everywhere, most prominently Giulia's brother Alessandro, but Gulio de' Medici was an unexpected treat, and way more interesting than his cousin Piero the Unfortunate, currently losing Florence to Savonarola.)

As for the other half of the saga's power couple: the way Rodrigo extricates himself from a seeming no win position - an invincible French army headed towards Rome with his rival Giuliano della Rovere as a prominent advisor, half the college of Cardinals in desertion or with the enemy - to one where he comes out on top was always one of my favourite parts of the Borgia saga, and since the novel has him (literally) fucking up early on (hence the big crisis with Giulia), it's a great pay off that the last third shows him at his wily best and makes the reader and Giulia fall in love with him all over again.