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The Borgia Chronicles #1
The Serpent and the Pearl
One powerful family holds a city, a faith, and a woman in its grasp—from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Rome and Mistress of Rome.
Rome, 1492. The Holy City is drenched with blood and teeming with secrets. A pope lies dying and the throne of God is left vacant, a prize awarded only to the most virtuous—or the most ruthless. The Borgia family begins its legendary rise, chronicled by an innocent girl who finds herself drawn into their dangerous web…
Vivacious Giulia Farnese has floor-length golden hair and the world at her feet: beauty, wealth, and a handsome young husband. But she is stunned to discover that her glittering marriage is a sham, and she is to be given as a concubine to the ruthless, charismatic Cardinal Borgia: Spaniard, sensualist, candidate for Pope—and passionately in love with her.
Two trusted companions will follow her into the Pope's shadowy harem: Leonello, a cynical bodyguard bent on bloody revenge against a mysterious killer, and Carmelina, a fiery cook with a past full of secrets. But as corruption thickens in the Vatican and the enemies begin to circle, Giulia and her friends will need all their wits to survive in the world of the Borgias.
Rome, 1492. The Holy City is drenched with blood and teeming with secrets. A pope lies dying and the throne of God is left vacant, a prize awarded only to the most virtuous—or the most ruthless. The Borgia family begins its legendary rise, chronicled by an innocent girl who finds herself drawn into their dangerous web…
Vivacious Giulia Farnese has floor-length golden hair and the world at her feet: beauty, wealth, and a handsome young husband. But she is stunned to discover that her glittering marriage is a sham, and she is to be given as a concubine to the ruthless, charismatic Cardinal Borgia: Spaniard, sensualist, candidate for Pope—and passionately in love with her.
Two trusted companions will follow her into the Pope's shadowy harem: Leonello, a cynical bodyguard bent on bloody revenge against a mysterious killer, and Carmelina, a fiery cook with a past full of secrets. But as corruption thickens in the Vatican and the enemies begin to circle, Giulia and her friends will need all their wits to survive in the world of the Borgias.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 6, 2013
1157 people are currently reading
12187 people want to read
About the author
Kate Quinn
30 books40.1k followers--I use Goodreads to track and rate my current reading. Most of my reads are 4 stars, meaning I enjoyed it hugely and would absolutely recommend. 5 stars is blew-my-socks-off; reserved for rare reads. 3 stars is "enjoyed it, but something fell a bit short." I very rarely rate lower because I DNF books I'm not enjoying, and don't rate books I don't finish.--
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” "The Rose Code," "The Diamond Eye," and "The Briar Club." She is also a co-author in several collaborative novels including "The Phoenix Crown" with Janie Chang and "Ribbons of Scarlet" with Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, and Heather Webb. All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with their two rescue dogs.
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” "The Rose Code," "The Diamond Eye," and "The Briar Club." She is also a co-author in several collaborative novels including "The Phoenix Crown" with Janie Chang and "Ribbons of Scarlet" with Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, and Heather Webb. All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in Maryland with their two rescue dogs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 603 reviews
September 17, 2015
I will read anything this author writes. She is just that good.
4.5 stars. A stunning story of love, passion, intrigue, and betrayal shrouded under the guise of politics and religion. This book has so many twists and turns that it's almost impossible to predict where it will go next.
While each character is flawed, you can't help but love them all. Giulia Farnese comes in close second in a list of my most favorite Kate Quinn characters (Thea will always have the top spot). Giulia is both gentle and ferocious. She is much more than the whore people expect her to be as evidenced by her treatment of Leonello and Carmelina . Loved both of them, too.
Though I really enjoyed this book, it didn't have that feel of absolute greatness as Mistress of Rome did. Overall, a fantastic book but nowhere near as good as MOR. Still super excited to read the next book (yay I won a copy! I get to own a Kate Quinn book!).
4.5 stars. A stunning story of love, passion, intrigue, and betrayal shrouded under the guise of politics and religion. This book has so many twists and turns that it's almost impossible to predict where it will go next.
While each character is flawed, you can't help but love them all. Giulia Farnese comes in close second in a list of my most favorite Kate Quinn characters (Thea will always have the top spot). Giulia is both gentle and ferocious. She is much more than the whore people expect her to be as evidenced by her treatment of Leonello and Carmelina . Loved both of them, too.
Though I really enjoyed this book, it didn't have that feel of absolute greatness as Mistress of Rome did. Overall, a fantastic book but nowhere near as good as MOR. Still super excited to read the next book (yay I won a copy! I get to own a Kate Quinn book!).
October 17, 2021
Just for the record this is not my time period at all. Nor have I ever cared about the Borgia family other than the broad strokes that their influence paints over so many of the historical periods I read and wade in and out of. Some histories are a shadow --you recognize their significance but in blurred lines. But in The Serpent and the Pearl the curtain was lifted up.
I thought that this was a magnificently told piece that stretches against three very intimate, irreverent, funny and longing voices who are thrown together on the periphery of magnanimous historical events. As someone who shies from true autobiographical fiction ( I would much rather read about made-up people than an author's manipulation of finite facts), I thought it was masterful that Quinn led us to the borders across both the elite and wealthy through the inimitable voices of three dimensional, funny and absolutely glowing witnesses. We have Giulia Farnese, the real life mistress to Rodrigo Borgia who is here a bit like Galinda in Wicked but smarter and with more heart), Leonello the dwarf who is plucked from other historical tomes who would paint him as a juggler or jester and transposed into a knife-wielding bodyguard whose bitter tongue is as fast as his wit and whose mind is cut most sharply on the library he is given access to when hired to protect Giulia. Leonello asserts that all he wants is Books. To be Tall. To matter. In Quinn's deft pen inked with a passion we know she feels for him, he definitely secures two out of three. And then we have Carmelina who has committed the cardinal sin of robbing a relic and escaping the cloisters of a convent only to find new religion in her talent for food. The trio weaves in and out of a tapestry of historical tableaux: from the invasion of the French to the death of the Pope to a papal conclave that finds the newly appointed Rodrigo Borgia-- now Pope Alexander VI -- attempting to wed pious power with his scandalous and far from celibate line of mistresses and illegitimate children whose titles he purchases with the church's coin.
And to all of this we had danger and despair, a masked serial killer intent on nailing low-born women to tables like a Crucifix and a balance of power where seduction and sexual transaction are as sharp a weapon as one of Leonello's daggers. "A blasphemy and a double entendre all in one; the kind of joke that he liked."
Apparently the kind of joke I like, too because it is the one quote that perfectly shrouds this book.
And is it ever fun!
One of the reasons that (with few exceptions, thank you Hilary Mantel), I don't pursue old-old-timey historical fiction is that the narrative voice is often sacrificed for historical authenticity. The authors try so hard to conquer anachronisms that long paragraphs are drained of any type of humour or light. Quinn never once reads like any author other than herself. This is a bawdy, irreverent, sacrilegious and sarcastic book with almost absurd irony. Leonello serves the religion of himself and his poetry, Giulia --scathingly called the Bride of Christ-- assumes her role as mistress and whore will see her soul saved and purged thanks to the influence of her very wealthy Rodrigo and Carmelina prays to the shrivelled hand of the patron saint of cooks whose relic saved her from the nunnery and brought her to the kitchens.
The faith that our trio doesn't find in the walls and vestries and courts of the widely influential new pope, they find in each other and in their passions and in their belief that they are somehow able to make their circumstances better. The kitchen is a shrine, the library is a sanctuary, the court of women whom Giulia treats well when she turns her eye from women snatching one bauble for another to secure just another day away from harsh-treatment is, here, not unlike the offering of alms.
So we are not doused in the notorious scandal of the Borgias because they are the canvas. Rather we are welcomed into an all-too-timely and identifiable human world of friendship and lust and the absence of choice.
By choosing three personages whom historical society would minimize: a dwarf and two women ( one of high breeding and no choice, one of low breeding and immense talent and no choice), Quinn doles agency when she can. At one point, Giulia is told that a woman can be little more than a wife or a mother or a whore or a nun. And Leonello knows that the only boundless advantage and ambition given him will be in the spanse of his mind. Yet, fate and fortune are as generous to this trio of sinners as they are to the ascending Borgia clan. Never more so when they rely on each other.
Yes, the cover is a glossed historical romance but it doesn't suit the experience inside. This is a historical romp, a treatise on the use of women as commodities and on the very real limitations of a religion whose coffers are so heftily filled they burst through with corruption and derision. Yet, the heart of the book is within the charity and compassion and sacrifice perhaps not found at the high altar but in human connection, education, circumstance and the belief in forging through circumstance to change the world anew.
Leonello's card games of tricks and treachery, for example, slice through any fallacy of belief even as his own journey holds to the mystical and miraculous. And Leonello with his watered wine ( a sort of communion gesture that keeps his water sharp while drawing on rudimentary symbols of this world's oeuvre) dolls out shrewd justice for the innocent in the sharp way he knows how.
And while Giulia in lesser hands would wield little more than a cherubic painting, here she is not even remotely insufferable because like the Madonna she is painted as she is redeemed through her selfless love for her child and her respect and cherishing of her friends. (And her pet goat). Even Rodrigo had me questioning my feminism and faith. Juxtaposing his penchant for disposing of mistresses and his slithering to the top of the papal ladder, he still offers Giulia what she has not had before: choice. More still, he is a fine antidote to Giulia's true husband who only decided to be loyal the moment he saw her at the wedding feast. This Rodrigo is confident. Assured. He will never take a woman by force and in doing so has Giulia in the palm of his hand .
Carmelina of her sharp tongue and androgynous strength has her own measures of grace. Yes, it is symbiotic that her cousin--the true chef--is too busy gambling to lay the table. But what she puts into her food in his stead is art. And even as she chides her new apprentice Bartolomeo, she is savvy enough to see the first threads of her own talent in others.
I feel that the best historical books are not confined to plot, rather they act as a universe: and here I was able to roam around mind-blowing descriptions of kitchens and bowers and papal apartments, here I was googling recipes left and right to assume some identity of Carmelina's tourtes and pastries and sweet cheeses and capons.
For a book that plays fast and loose with the idea of cardinal sin, it doles all in excess: food, wine, selfishness, irreverence, jealousy, murder, lust and avarice and it is in these themes that we find the purity of tarnished hearts. An imprisoned would- be saint expressing art in food, a would-be assassin avenging women who he believes mattered even if he doesn't and a far-from-pure Madonna who is more Magdalene that anything associated with Christ-Virgin or Bride and so tender to Lucrezia, her almost step-daughter and so kind to her servants.
And a code to the magic of recipes of which Carmelina is whisperer that recalls Quinn's recent fascination with a similar system when women were able to translate what perceived better men could not. And history in periphery but not ever barging too heavily handed onto the swift smiley magic of Quinn's voicy narrative.
In this frame of a sumptuous and immoderate time, Quinn posits a different type of reader conundrum through a well-placed conversation about the balance of dark and light between the papal bull Rodrigo and the angel mistress who is far smarter than history would allow: when the church is corrupt and faith is a transaction, then didn't Persephone have it right all along? Maybe she just really, really liked the dark..
QUOTES:
"Great love makes for terrible poetry."
"Who knew hope could be such a violent thing when it surged in the chest like this?"
"Sometimes I wish I were a stupider man. A clever imagination is no blessing in a cell."
"Virginity is a vastly overrated thing [...]It's pleasure I want to give you ... and most virgins get precious little of that."
"It's not the sin that matters, dear girl. It's the repentance afterward."
"Our Heavenly father says as much through his inactions as his actions, after all. If He does not act, then He approves."
"What I have is a high opinion of my own skills. But even I need time."
"I took a deep breath and flung my voice into the night so it boomed."
"There is no time so good as the hour before dawn to commit murder."
"I told one of the dirtier stories in my arsenal, never mind that it came from a Venetian sailor with a gutter for a mouth and not from my own memory."
"When a man gives you jewels, even if you're planning to throw them back in his face, you shoulder remember his name."
"I put just a hint of tartness into my voice,like the last squeeze of lemon juice going into a sweet sauce to give it bite"
"but she had a tang that prettier women lacked, a tang as tart and refreshing as a dash of lemon water on a hot day and I wondered if her skin tasted like lemon on the tongue. But she grimaced before I could think of anything charming to say."
"The question fell into the vaulted room like a drop of water into a pool, spreading outward in silent ripples."
"So that pretty head of yours is good for something besides growing massive amounts of hair."
"...it was a curiousity --- but that could be as strong a force as passion."
"All the Magdalenes ever depicted in paint have wonderful hair, don't they? Penitence doesn't look as picturesque without a good flood of hair."
"The matter of murder had been weighing so heavily on my mind this winter-- otherwise it had been nothing but bad poetry"
I thought that this was a magnificently told piece that stretches against three very intimate, irreverent, funny and longing voices who are thrown together on the periphery of magnanimous historical events. As someone who shies from true autobiographical fiction ( I would much rather read about made-up people than an author's manipulation of finite facts), I thought it was masterful that Quinn led us to the borders across both the elite and wealthy through the inimitable voices of three dimensional, funny and absolutely glowing witnesses. We have Giulia Farnese, the real life mistress to Rodrigo Borgia who is here a bit like Galinda in Wicked but smarter and with more heart), Leonello the dwarf who is plucked from other historical tomes who would paint him as a juggler or jester and transposed into a knife-wielding bodyguard whose bitter tongue is as fast as his wit and whose mind is cut most sharply on the library he is given access to when hired to protect Giulia. Leonello asserts that all he wants is Books. To be Tall. To matter. In Quinn's deft pen inked with a passion we know she feels for him, he definitely secures two out of three. And then we have Carmelina who has committed the cardinal sin of robbing a relic and escaping the cloisters of a convent only to find new religion in her talent for food. The trio weaves in and out of a tapestry of historical tableaux: from the invasion of the French to the death of the Pope to a papal conclave that finds the newly appointed Rodrigo Borgia-- now Pope Alexander VI -- attempting to wed pious power with his scandalous and far from celibate line of mistresses and illegitimate children whose titles he purchases with the church's coin.
And to all of this we had danger and despair, a masked serial killer intent on nailing low-born women to tables like a Crucifix and a balance of power where seduction and sexual transaction are as sharp a weapon as one of Leonello's daggers. "A blasphemy and a double entendre all in one; the kind of joke that he liked."
Apparently the kind of joke I like, too because it is the one quote that perfectly shrouds this book.
And is it ever fun!
One of the reasons that (with few exceptions, thank you Hilary Mantel), I don't pursue old-old-timey historical fiction is that the narrative voice is often sacrificed for historical authenticity. The authors try so hard to conquer anachronisms that long paragraphs are drained of any type of humour or light. Quinn never once reads like any author other than herself. This is a bawdy, irreverent, sacrilegious and sarcastic book with almost absurd irony. Leonello serves the religion of himself and his poetry, Giulia --scathingly called the Bride of Christ-- assumes her role as mistress and whore will see her soul saved and purged thanks to the influence of her very wealthy Rodrigo and Carmelina prays to the shrivelled hand of the patron saint of cooks whose relic saved her from the nunnery and brought her to the kitchens.
The faith that our trio doesn't find in the walls and vestries and courts of the widely influential new pope, they find in each other and in their passions and in their belief that they are somehow able to make their circumstances better. The kitchen is a shrine, the library is a sanctuary, the court of women whom Giulia treats well when she turns her eye from women snatching one bauble for another to secure just another day away from harsh-treatment is, here, not unlike the offering of alms.
So we are not doused in the notorious scandal of the Borgias because they are the canvas. Rather we are welcomed into an all-too-timely and identifiable human world of friendship and lust and the absence of choice.
By choosing three personages whom historical society would minimize: a dwarf and two women ( one of high breeding and no choice, one of low breeding and immense talent and no choice), Quinn doles agency when she can. At one point, Giulia is told that a woman can be little more than a wife or a mother or a whore or a nun. And Leonello knows that the only boundless advantage and ambition given him will be in the spanse of his mind. Yet, fate and fortune are as generous to this trio of sinners as they are to the ascending Borgia clan. Never more so when they rely on each other.
Yes, the cover is a glossed historical romance but it doesn't suit the experience inside. This is a historical romp, a treatise on the use of women as commodities and on the very real limitations of a religion whose coffers are so heftily filled they burst through with corruption and derision. Yet, the heart of the book is within the charity and compassion and sacrifice perhaps not found at the high altar but in human connection, education, circumstance and the belief in forging through circumstance to change the world anew.
Leonello's card games of tricks and treachery, for example, slice through any fallacy of belief even as his own journey holds to the mystical and miraculous. And Leonello with his watered wine ( a sort of communion gesture that keeps his water sharp while drawing on rudimentary symbols of this world's oeuvre) dolls out shrewd justice for the innocent in the sharp way he knows how.
And while Giulia in lesser hands would wield little more than a cherubic painting, here she is not even remotely insufferable because like the Madonna she is painted as she is redeemed through her selfless love for her child and her respect and cherishing of her friends. (And her pet goat). Even Rodrigo had me questioning my feminism and faith. Juxtaposing his penchant for disposing of mistresses and his slithering to the top of the papal ladder, he still offers Giulia what she has not had before: choice. More still, he is a fine antidote to Giulia's true husband who only decided to be loyal the moment he saw her at the wedding feast. This Rodrigo is confident. Assured. He will never take a woman by force and in doing so has Giulia in the palm of his hand .
Carmelina of her sharp tongue and androgynous strength has her own measures of grace. Yes, it is symbiotic that her cousin--the true chef--is too busy gambling to lay the table. But what she puts into her food in his stead is art. And even as she chides her new apprentice Bartolomeo, she is savvy enough to see the first threads of her own talent in others.
I feel that the best historical books are not confined to plot, rather they act as a universe: and here I was able to roam around mind-blowing descriptions of kitchens and bowers and papal apartments, here I was googling recipes left and right to assume some identity of Carmelina's tourtes and pastries and sweet cheeses and capons.
For a book that plays fast and loose with the idea of cardinal sin, it doles all in excess: food, wine, selfishness, irreverence, jealousy, murder, lust and avarice and it is in these themes that we find the purity of tarnished hearts. An imprisoned would- be saint expressing art in food, a would-be assassin avenging women who he believes mattered even if he doesn't and a far-from-pure Madonna who is more Magdalene that anything associated with Christ-Virgin or Bride and so tender to Lucrezia, her almost step-daughter and so kind to her servants.
And a code to the magic of recipes of which Carmelina is whisperer that recalls Quinn's recent fascination with a similar system when women were able to translate what perceived better men could not. And history in periphery but not ever barging too heavily handed onto the swift smiley magic of Quinn's voicy narrative.
In this frame of a sumptuous and immoderate time, Quinn posits a different type of reader conundrum through a well-placed conversation about the balance of dark and light between the papal bull Rodrigo and the angel mistress who is far smarter than history would allow: when the church is corrupt and faith is a transaction, then didn't Persephone have it right all along? Maybe she just really, really liked the dark..
QUOTES:
"Great love makes for terrible poetry."
"Who knew hope could be such a violent thing when it surged in the chest like this?"
"Sometimes I wish I were a stupider man. A clever imagination is no blessing in a cell."
"Virginity is a vastly overrated thing [...]It's pleasure I want to give you ... and most virgins get precious little of that."
"It's not the sin that matters, dear girl. It's the repentance afterward."
"Our Heavenly father says as much through his inactions as his actions, after all. If He does not act, then He approves."
"What I have is a high opinion of my own skills. But even I need time."
"I took a deep breath and flung my voice into the night so it boomed."
"There is no time so good as the hour before dawn to commit murder."
"I told one of the dirtier stories in my arsenal, never mind that it came from a Venetian sailor with a gutter for a mouth and not from my own memory."
"When a man gives you jewels, even if you're planning to throw them back in his face, you shoulder remember his name."
"I put just a hint of tartness into my voice,like the last squeeze of lemon juice going into a sweet sauce to give it bite"
"but she had a tang that prettier women lacked, a tang as tart and refreshing as a dash of lemon water on a hot day and I wondered if her skin tasted like lemon on the tongue. But she grimaced before I could think of anything charming to say."
"The question fell into the vaulted room like a drop of water into a pool, spreading outward in silent ripples."
"So that pretty head of yours is good for something besides growing massive amounts of hair."
"...it was a curiousity --- but that could be as strong a force as passion."
"All the Magdalenes ever depicted in paint have wonderful hair, don't they? Penitence doesn't look as picturesque without a good flood of hair."
"The matter of murder had been weighing so heavily on my mind this winter-- otherwise it had been nothing but bad poetry"
March 31, 2014
3.5 Stars
I freely admit that I knew next to nothing about the Borgias before reading this book. I know a little bit more now, because this book inspired me to do some reading about them, but I'd say it's safe to assume I'm not an expert. So, I will not be critiquing this book based on any inaccuracies with the characters or liberties with the timelines, etc. (Though, to be fair, in the author's note at the end, Kate Quinn does mention taking some liberties with historical facts to fit her story.)
Overall, I'd say that I liked this book, though it took a while to grow on me, and more than a little while to finish. At the beginning, I was not really in love with any of the characters.
Carmelina was just a little too one-note for my tastes. "Cook with a secret" was it, for a long time. But after a while, I started to warm to her. She seemed to grow into a character around the mid-point of the book, and I started to enjoy her sections of the book more.
Giulia was inconsistent and naive, and I was frustrated by her for a lot of the time... at least until she started her relationship with Borgia, which is when I started liking her. She seemed to come into her own once she became Borgia's mistress - and even more so after her daughter was born, and I kept liking her more and more as she figured out more and more who she was and what she wanted out of life.
It took me far less time to warm up to Leonello, though. I didn't much like him at first - he seemed to be a stereotypical conman/jester type. We meet him counting cards in a tavern and cruelly making fun of his fellow players. But it doesn't take long to see that there's more to Leonello than that, and I really loved his character. He's bitter, and cruel, as much to his friends as anyone, and he's not a likable person, but I liked him for all of that, even as I winced at how sharp his tongue could be. I really enjoyed his self-awareness, though, even if he is just as cruel to himself as anyone else. I also loved how his chapters always provided some sort of insight or perspective on a situation for the other characters to benefit from. It was like, merely from being around Leonello, they were more informed and able to see things more clearly... even if their heads were ringing from the delivery method.
I liked the political and emotional changes in the book and how those often intertwined... but I felt that the murder mystery didn't quite fit the story. It often felt like an afterthought to me, and I felt it wasn't necessary. The killings could even have been kept in, but the investigation aspect felt like more of a distraction from the story than an addition to it.
Still, I did like the story, and I think at some point I'll pick up the second book and see what happens...
I freely admit that I knew next to nothing about the Borgias before reading this book. I know a little bit more now, because this book inspired me to do some reading about them, but I'd say it's safe to assume I'm not an expert. So, I will not be critiquing this book based on any inaccuracies with the characters or liberties with the timelines, etc. (Though, to be fair, in the author's note at the end, Kate Quinn does mention taking some liberties with historical facts to fit her story.)
Overall, I'd say that I liked this book, though it took a while to grow on me, and more than a little while to finish. At the beginning, I was not really in love with any of the characters.
Carmelina was just a little too one-note for my tastes. "Cook with a secret" was it, for a long time. But after a while, I started to warm to her. She seemed to grow into a character around the mid-point of the book, and I started to enjoy her sections of the book more.
Giulia was inconsistent and naive, and I was frustrated by her for a lot of the time... at least until she started her relationship with Borgia, which is when I started liking her. She seemed to come into her own once she became Borgia's mistress - and even more so after her daughter was born, and I kept liking her more and more as she figured out more and more who she was and what she wanted out of life.
It took me far less time to warm up to Leonello, though. I didn't much like him at first - he seemed to be a stereotypical conman/jester type. We meet him counting cards in a tavern and cruelly making fun of his fellow players. But it doesn't take long to see that there's more to Leonello than that, and I really loved his character. He's bitter, and cruel, as much to his friends as anyone, and he's not a likable person, but I liked him for all of that, even as I winced at how sharp his tongue could be. I really enjoyed his self-awareness, though, even if he is just as cruel to himself as anyone else. I also loved how his chapters always provided some sort of insight or perspective on a situation for the other characters to benefit from. It was like, merely from being around Leonello, they were more informed and able to see things more clearly... even if their heads were ringing from the delivery method.
I liked the political and emotional changes in the book and how those often intertwined... but I felt that the murder mystery didn't quite fit the story. It often felt like an afterthought to me, and I felt it wasn't necessary. The killings could even have been kept in, but the investigation aspect felt like more of a distraction from the story than an addition to it.
Still, I did like the story, and I think at some point I'll pick up the second book and see what happens...
July 5, 2015
Three and a half stars--and if I hadn't read it right after a Georgette Heyer it would probably be four stars. A very entertaining and surprisingly sympathetic novel about the Borgias set in Rome in the late 15th century. Wonderfully atmospheric--and those gowns!
Quinn sets the scene brilliantly and her characters and their motives are believable. There was plenty of high fashion....
And--even more delightfully--there were lots of mouth-watering dishes served up by the feisty cook, Carmelina, who became my favorite character. Endearingly, the beautiful heroine Giulia Farnese becomes quite addicted to Carlmelina's dainties. I thoroughly sympathized as Giulia fought the good fight between an urge for one more little torte and the need to keep her weight down to fit into all those gowns.
I know very little about this period and next to nothing about the Borgias, which added to the delight for me.
Alas, Quinn is not adept at writing dialog and, coming on the heels of a Georgette Heyer, that flaw was particularly glaring. Still I had great fun--it's a page-turner and I've already ordered the sequel The Lion and the Rose.
Content rating PG for rather shocking goings-on and brutal murders. The sex is mostly fade-to-black, although there is plenty of off-color language. Catholics readers may find this a cringe-worthy era and Quinn does not spare the scandal, though she does set it in context.
Quinn sets the scene brilliantly and her characters and their motives are believable. There was plenty of high fashion....
And--even more delightfully--there were lots of mouth-watering dishes served up by the feisty cook, Carmelina, who became my favorite character. Endearingly, the beautiful heroine Giulia Farnese becomes quite addicted to Carlmelina's dainties. I thoroughly sympathized as Giulia fought the good fight between an urge for one more little torte and the need to keep her weight down to fit into all those gowns.
I know very little about this period and next to nothing about the Borgias, which added to the delight for me.
Alas, Quinn is not adept at writing dialog and, coming on the heels of a Georgette Heyer, that flaw was particularly glaring. Still I had great fun--it's a page-turner and I've already ordered the sequel The Lion and the Rose.
Content rating PG for rather shocking goings-on and brutal murders. The sex is mostly fade-to-black, although there is plenty of off-color language. Catholics readers may find this a cringe-worthy era and Quinn does not spare the scandal, though she does set it in context.
September 18, 2013
Renaissance food in yummy detail, a sophisticated, lascivious pope and his gorgeous (not to mention smart and courageous) concubine, murders reflecting some fascinating if sick mental states, an ornery but lovable dwarf, a mummified saint’s hand with strong opinions—what is not to like about Kate Quinn’s foray into the world of the Borgias? I’ve enjoyed Quinn’s novels set in the Roman period and I viewed her defection from the ancient world with mixed feelings, but she is now forgiven. The Serpent and the Pearl is full of the trademark Quinn humor, quirky, complicated characters and colorful historical details. She skillfully develops the darkly cynical politics of Renaissance Rome and uses this backdrop to reveal what her characters often want to hide: their deep-seated humanity and golden hearts (often surrounded by a casing of well-earned bitterness). You’ll luxuriate in the silks and jewelry, you’ll positively salivate over the descriptions of authentic period food and its careful preparation (do visit Kate’s Goodread's blog, A Virtual Potluck, for some recipes), but mostly you’ll keep turning pages with a plot full of seductions and betrayals of every kind, not just the sexy sort. This is one very fun, adventurous read.
September 7, 2023
Kate Quinn is a favorite author of mine. I have read many of her books and enjoyed them all. This was no exception. I love reading about the Italian Renaissance. This one featured the notorious Borgia family.
This story is told in three POV Guilia Farnese the Pope’s mistress, Leonello, her bodyguard and Carmelina the cook. All well developed characters.
I loved reading about the meals and sweets Carmelina prepared. You could just smell the food.
My favorite character was Leonello. I just loved reading about him and the comments he made.
This story is really about Guilia’s relationship with Rodrigo not so much historical facts about Rodrigo.
A delightful read filled with drama murder and betrayal. A cliffhanger ending.
I can’t wait to read the sequel.
This story is told in three POV Guilia Farnese the Pope’s mistress, Leonello, her bodyguard and Carmelina the cook. All well developed characters.
I loved reading about the meals and sweets Carmelina prepared. You could just smell the food.
My favorite character was Leonello. I just loved reading about him and the comments he made.
This story is really about Guilia’s relationship with Rodrigo not so much historical facts about Rodrigo.
A delightful read filled with drama murder and betrayal. A cliffhanger ending.
I can’t wait to read the sequel.
Read
March 24, 2017DNF at 25% because what the damn hell. I feel like I'm one of the few readers who is creeped the eff out by this pope guy. His slimy flirting made me itchy and uncomfortable, but Giulia's allowance of it was even more disturbing. And in front of his young daughter! While she made Giulia a crown of wildflowers! While he talked about how he wanted her naked on her back in the meadow! What the damm hell.
I skimmed a few other reviews to see that Giulia even ends up falling for this creeper later on and that we're meant to like him. Who to the why. Hecks no, girl. I'll pass. My mama told me not to talk to strangers and that includes Jeepers Creepers here.
The cook's story....I could've gotten into down the line. Leonello was an interesting character. I liked his intelligence and viewpoint of the world -- made for an engaging narrative. I guess I'll never know what happened to his friend Anna.
I dunno. Maybe mini book slump, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was reading. Maybe this was bad book chemistry and maybe the only historical fiction I like is Roman or Egyptian set in the early centuries. It certainly doesn't seem to be the Renaissance period.
Oh, I dunno. This book is rated so well. Because it's Kate Quinn and because her Mistress of Rome series was so phenomenal, I'll put this on a "read again properly someday" shelf. But again with Jeepers Creepers over there, running his slimy mushroom fingers through Giulia's hair. Why? Why.
Slag it. I'm going to sleep.
I skimmed a few other reviews to see that Giulia even ends up falling for this creeper later on and that we're meant to like him. Who to the why. Hecks no, girl. I'll pass. My mama told me not to talk to strangers and that includes Jeepers Creepers here.
The cook's story....I could've gotten into down the line. Leonello was an interesting character. I liked his intelligence and viewpoint of the world -- made for an engaging narrative. I guess I'll never know what happened to his friend Anna.
I dunno. Maybe mini book slump, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was reading. Maybe this was bad book chemistry and maybe the only historical fiction I like is Roman or Egyptian set in the early centuries. It certainly doesn't seem to be the Renaissance period.
Oh, I dunno. This book is rated so well. Because it's Kate Quinn and because her Mistress of Rome series was so phenomenal, I'll put this on a "read again properly someday" shelf. But again with Jeepers Creepers over there, running his slimy mushroom fingers through Giulia's hair. Why? Why.
Slag it. I'm going to sleep.
November 2, 2020
When a man gives you jewels, even if you're planning to throw them back in his face, you should remember his name.
Warning! You will be unable to sleep until you've finished this book. You will also want to devour all the recipes that are talked about. I think that clearly needs to be stated. Now that you've been warned, I can gush about the story to my heart's content.
The setting is 15th century Rome and Pope Innocent is dying. Our story begins on the wedding day of Giulia Farnese to Orsinio Orsini when she catches the eye of the Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. Giulia soon learns that her marriage has been orchestrated as a way for her to become the next Borgia mistress. A title that she is not in the least bit interested in having -at first. Soon Giulia finds herself swayed by the Cardinal that will soon become Pope and becomes known by the people as La Bella.
But this story is not only about Giulia, it is also narrated by her skillfull bodyguard, Leonello and her sharp tongued cook, Carmelina. Both equally satisfying characters with storylines that are intriguing and give the reader different viewpoints of the Borgia family. As an aside, I like having the refreshing viewpoints of people that are not ladies' maids. They tend to be overdone in historical fiction.
"The Serpent and the Pearl" is thoroughly researched and filled with characters that are by no means one dimensional. I loved this new take on Giulia Farnese and I'm glad to have a female character who enjoys eating.
Warning! You will be unable to sleep until you've finished this book. You will also want to devour all the recipes that are talked about. I think that clearly needs to be stated. Now that you've been warned, I can gush about the story to my heart's content.
The setting is 15th century Rome and Pope Innocent is dying. Our story begins on the wedding day of Giulia Farnese to Orsinio Orsini when she catches the eye of the Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. Giulia soon learns that her marriage has been orchestrated as a way for her to become the next Borgia mistress. A title that she is not in the least bit interested in having -at first. Soon Giulia finds herself swayed by the Cardinal that will soon become Pope and becomes known by the people as La Bella.
But this story is not only about Giulia, it is also narrated by her skillfull bodyguard, Leonello and her sharp tongued cook, Carmelina. Both equally satisfying characters with storylines that are intriguing and give the reader different viewpoints of the Borgia family. As an aside, I like having the refreshing viewpoints of people that are not ladies' maids. They tend to be overdone in historical fiction.
"The Serpent and the Pearl" is thoroughly researched and filled with characters that are by no means one dimensional. I loved this new take on Giulia Farnese and I'm glad to have a female character who enjoys eating.
December 14, 2016
A strange trio of main characters in this delightful telling of the era of the Borgia Pope Alexander the sixth from the eyes of his gorgeous lover the Venus of the Vatican, Guilia Farnese, her cook Carmelina and her bodyguard Leonella. I have to tell you, they certainly made them pope’s a bit different back then…. Holy moly!!
This story revolves around the power and the politics, the fashion and the beauty and the many secrets that surround the main characters. Carmelina will leave your mouth watering all the way through this volume and evidently the recipes are fairly true to the menu’s of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, which I listened to on audio with its three distinct narrators. I can’t wait to get to book 2.
This story revolves around the power and the politics, the fashion and the beauty and the many secrets that surround the main characters. Carmelina will leave your mouth watering all the way through this volume and evidently the recipes are fairly true to the menu’s of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, which I listened to on audio with its three distinct narrators. I can’t wait to get to book 2.
January 5, 2016
*I received this book as a part of a Goodread's First Reads giveaway.
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn is fantastic historical fiction novel set in the late 15th century Italy.
This book has:
-drama, murder, romance, humor, and a dash of hunger (by this I mean at points the descriptions of the delicious food will make you hungry).
-various character viewpoints including: Rome's most beautiful woman stuck in an adulterous relationship, A runaway chef with a stolen mummified hand, and a knife throwing butt-kicking dwarf.
-A plot that reels you in and keeps you reading.
-well developed characters, each very interesting and captivating.
Overall, I loved this book! It was amazing and I'm waiting for the next book in the series to come out! I highly recommend this book, even to those that don't like historical fiction, you will still enjoy this book because there are so many other parts to it.
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn is fantastic historical fiction novel set in the late 15th century Italy.
This book has:
-drama, murder, romance, humor, and a dash of hunger (by this I mean at points the descriptions of the delicious food will make you hungry).
-various character viewpoints including: Rome's most beautiful woman stuck in an adulterous relationship, A runaway chef with a stolen mummified hand, and a knife throwing butt-kicking dwarf.
-A plot that reels you in and keeps you reading.
-well developed characters, each very interesting and captivating.
Overall, I loved this book! It was amazing and I'm waiting for the next book in the series to come out! I highly recommend this book, even to those that don't like historical fiction, you will still enjoy this book because there are so many other parts to it.
February 16, 2016
The Italian Renaissance is one of my favourite periods in history, so when novels that are set in this time are in amazon's kindle sale offers me immediately downloading them is inevitable. I've also read three of Quinn's Ancient Rome novels, so was familiar with the author and thought my enjoyment of this story was secure.
This is a multiple POV story, the focus being on Guilia Farnese, the historical mistress of Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), and the fictional characters Carmelina, a cook, and Leonello, a dwarf cardsharp turned bodyguard. Each character has their own story to tell, Carmelina's being the most mysterious- there's also a good murder mystery that involves all three of the novel's protagonists and keeps the reader turning the pages. My suspicions changed a couple of times- .
Carmelina's points of view were a real treat for me, as I am a huge lover of food and a keen home cook who delights in smells, experimentation, and trying new ingredients in my kitchen (I sometimes wonder if I've missed my calling, but that's a story for another day). Readers who are less enthusiastic about food might find Carmelina's chapters a little tiresome, but for me they were a high point of the novel.
Also included in Quinn's novel is an author note, in which she explains her choices to the reader and states where she has moved/slightly altered things to suit her story. I do think it would be worth mentioning that her are fictional too, although of course that is a matter of choice. I don't think it's any secret that Renaissance Rome was a pretty brutal place, and this story arc helped get that message across effectively.
To sum up, then, Quinn's novel is a fun read, a good page turner and should suit most historical fiction readers who enjoy this period.
This is a multiple POV story, the focus being on Guilia Farnese, the historical mistress of Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI), and the fictional characters Carmelina, a cook, and Leonello, a dwarf cardsharp turned bodyguard. Each character has their own story to tell, Carmelina's being the most mysterious- there's also a good murder mystery that involves all three of the novel's protagonists and keeps the reader turning the pages. My suspicions changed a couple of times- .
Carmelina's points of view were a real treat for me, as I am a huge lover of food and a keen home cook who delights in smells, experimentation, and trying new ingredients in my kitchen (I sometimes wonder if I've missed my calling, but that's a story for another day). Readers who are less enthusiastic about food might find Carmelina's chapters a little tiresome, but for me they were a high point of the novel.
Also included in Quinn's novel is an author note, in which she explains her choices to the reader and states where she has moved/slightly altered things to suit her story. I do think it would be worth mentioning that her are fictional too, although of course that is a matter of choice. I don't think it's any secret that Renaissance Rome was a pretty brutal place, and this story arc helped get that message across effectively.
To sum up, then, Quinn's novel is a fun read, a good page turner and should suit most historical fiction readers who enjoy this period.
June 1, 2015
I am really beginning to love Kate Quinn's work. I am starting to turn to her novels when I need a book that I know I will like. They have yet to let me down.
The characters in The Serpent and the Pearl definitely cannot claim to be very virtuous. Each character, even if they have the best intentions in mind, has a bit of a corrupted side. Not that I mind. The ill mannered do know how to bring the drama to the table. I found myself really liking Leonello at the beginning, but my feelings started to turn after some of his other qualities started to surface. It was like this with many of the characters. I loved the depth they were given.
The pace was good, a few times I did want something more to happen, but I was never bored. The ending though..UGH! I hate being left up in the air like that. Now I have to go in search of the second book ASAP.
The characters in The Serpent and the Pearl definitely cannot claim to be very virtuous. Each character, even if they have the best intentions in mind, has a bit of a corrupted side. Not that I mind. The ill mannered do know how to bring the drama to the table. I found myself really liking Leonello at the beginning, but my feelings started to turn after some of his other qualities started to surface. It was like this with many of the characters. I loved the depth they were given.
The pace was good, a few times I did want something more to happen, but I was never bored. The ending though..UGH! I hate being left up in the air like that. Now I have to go in search of the second book ASAP.
May 10, 2014
The Borgias are one of those popular subjects in historical fiction that, for me, just don’t captivate my imagination. I know. I’m gaping at me in disbelief, too. IT MAKES NO SENSE.
There is so much rich potential in the basic story for unending fascination: the corruption of the Western world’s greatest superpower (the Vatican), plotting and scheming, sumptuous settings, rumors of all kinds of skeevy things like murders and incest and not just regular incest but ornate polygons formed of super-incest. It’s a goldmine. And yet every time I’ve tried to get into a Borgia story, whether a novel or that one TV show, I just get bored and drift away. Even if Jeremy Irons is involved!
So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I was hooked by The Serpent and the Pearl, sucked straight into the story, and totally unwilling to let it go when it ended. (I immediately bought the next audiobook in the series, The Lion and the Rose, moments after the first one ended.) I was so into this story that I listened to it non-stop while painting fancy accent walls in my new apartment. I had my phone stuffed into my bra, blasting The Serpent and the Pearl in my face while I stood precariously on a chair to reach the very high ceiling with a roller.
Imagine Kate Quinn’s irresistibly lush words emanating from my boobs. (Kate, if you want to use that as a blurb on your next release, please feel free. I know it’s a stirring image.)
So, yes, a book managed to make me interested in the Borgias. Although I must confess it’s not really the Borgias themselves that interest me in Quinn’s series…though they are wonderfully portrayed here, with their legendary skeeviness dialed back (in most cases) and their personalities far more humanized and sympathetic (in most cases) than popular accounts of the famous family would have you believe. No, I found the Borgia characters ambitious and overstuffed on the feast of their own power, but wholly human, not unlikeable, and very easy to swallow.
But it was Giulia and Leonello who really won me over.
Giulia Farnese, the notorious mistress of Pope Alexander VI, would be an easy character to do all wrong. She was beautiful, and it’s so easy for authors to make a young woman’s beauty her most remarkable feature. It’s also rather a cliché to make a woman as stunning as Giulia either vapid or cruel. Quinn’s Giulia is neither. She’s intelligent but subtle, aware of her strengths and her limitations, and clever enough to turn tricky situations to her advantage more often than not. In addition, she is incredibly kind, generous, and loving. All in all, she is a character you can root for and love without any reservations.
Leonello is a little harder to pin down. Smart, resourceful, and ferocious when he needs to be, one is never quite sure whether it’s care for his friends that motivates him, or his desire to come out on top, to be the winner, to solve the mystery. (And there is a mystery.) I suppose it’s impossible to avoid comparing him to Tyrion in A Song of Ice and Fire (Leonello, too, is a dwarf) but although both characters are subtle and brainy and book-lovers, and friends with whores, I never felt like Leonello was in any way a copy of or even an homage to Tyrion. The two characters are dramatically different where it counts, deep in their personalities.
A third narrator also shares the spotlight, Carmelina, Giulia’s cook . While Carmelina’s point of view was never torment to read/listen to, I just didn’t connect with her as strongly as I did with Giulia and Leonello.
Against the overall story of Rodrigo Borgia’s rise to the papal seat and his family’s moments of drama, a more intimate and urgent story propels the book forward at a compelling rate: the mystery of who is murdering young women in Rome. All the murders are the same, with the victims staked down with knives or daggers through their palms, and their throats cut.
By about halfway through the book, both Leonello and the reader have a pretty good idea of whodunit (though…things might not be quite as they seem) but the sense of satisfaction doesn’t come from answering that question. It comes from watching three ultimately powerless figures struggle to bring an untouchable criminal to justice in a world he very nearly controls.
Not only is this plot obviously amazing, and the characters wonderful and fascinating, but Kate Quinn’s prose never drops below the octave of “awesome.” It frequently soars up into a sustained pitch of transcendent beauty. The scenes featuring Carmelina’s aphrodisiac feast were written in achingly gorgeous prose, as were many others. In parts, the book tiptoed near the edge of Hilary Mantel’s territory with regards to the loveliness of the writing.
So, with a tight plot, deep and dimensional characters, and wordplay to die for, The Serpent and the Pearl gets the highest possible rating from me. Bonus: Quinn pulls off that trick I’m always ranting about, first-person narration in historical fiction. It’s so often botched, but here the reader doesn’t miss a speck of emotion or detail, in any of three narrators’ points of view.
And I must say, the narrator who does Leonello’s parts in the audiobook has the sexiest voice. He sounds just like Jeremy Irons! I think I am developing a little crush on Leonello.
There is so much rich potential in the basic story for unending fascination: the corruption of the Western world’s greatest superpower (the Vatican), plotting and scheming, sumptuous settings, rumors of all kinds of skeevy things like murders and incest and not just regular incest but ornate polygons formed of super-incest. It’s a goldmine. And yet every time I’ve tried to get into a Borgia story, whether a novel or that one TV show, I just get bored and drift away. Even if Jeremy Irons is involved!
So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I was hooked by The Serpent and the Pearl, sucked straight into the story, and totally unwilling to let it go when it ended. (I immediately bought the next audiobook in the series, The Lion and the Rose, moments after the first one ended.) I was so into this story that I listened to it non-stop while painting fancy accent walls in my new apartment. I had my phone stuffed into my bra, blasting The Serpent and the Pearl in my face while I stood precariously on a chair to reach the very high ceiling with a roller.
Imagine Kate Quinn’s irresistibly lush words emanating from my boobs. (Kate, if you want to use that as a blurb on your next release, please feel free. I know it’s a stirring image.)
So, yes, a book managed to make me interested in the Borgias. Although I must confess it’s not really the Borgias themselves that interest me in Quinn’s series…though they are wonderfully portrayed here, with their legendary skeeviness dialed back (in most cases) and their personalities far more humanized and sympathetic (in most cases) than popular accounts of the famous family would have you believe. No, I found the Borgia characters ambitious and overstuffed on the feast of their own power, but wholly human, not unlikeable, and very easy to swallow.
But it was Giulia and Leonello who really won me over.
Giulia Farnese, the notorious mistress of Pope Alexander VI, would be an easy character to do all wrong. She was beautiful, and it’s so easy for authors to make a young woman’s beauty her most remarkable feature. It’s also rather a cliché to make a woman as stunning as Giulia either vapid or cruel. Quinn’s Giulia is neither. She’s intelligent but subtle, aware of her strengths and her limitations, and clever enough to turn tricky situations to her advantage more often than not. In addition, she is incredibly kind, generous, and loving. All in all, she is a character you can root for and love without any reservations.
Leonello is a little harder to pin down. Smart, resourceful, and ferocious when he needs to be, one is never quite sure whether it’s care for his friends that motivates him, or his desire to come out on top, to be the winner, to solve the mystery. (And there is a mystery.) I suppose it’s impossible to avoid comparing him to Tyrion in A Song of Ice and Fire (Leonello, too, is a dwarf) but although both characters are subtle and brainy and book-lovers, and friends with whores, I never felt like Leonello was in any way a copy of or even an homage to Tyrion. The two characters are dramatically different where it counts, deep in their personalities.
A third narrator also shares the spotlight, Carmelina, Giulia’s cook . While Carmelina’s point of view was never torment to read/listen to, I just didn’t connect with her as strongly as I did with Giulia and Leonello.
Against the overall story of Rodrigo Borgia’s rise to the papal seat and his family’s moments of drama, a more intimate and urgent story propels the book forward at a compelling rate: the mystery of who is murdering young women in Rome. All the murders are the same, with the victims staked down with knives or daggers through their palms, and their throats cut.
By about halfway through the book, both Leonello and the reader have a pretty good idea of whodunit (though…things might not be quite as they seem) but the sense of satisfaction doesn’t come from answering that question. It comes from watching three ultimately powerless figures struggle to bring an untouchable criminal to justice in a world he very nearly controls.
Not only is this plot obviously amazing, and the characters wonderful and fascinating, but Kate Quinn’s prose never drops below the octave of “awesome.” It frequently soars up into a sustained pitch of transcendent beauty. The scenes featuring Carmelina’s aphrodisiac feast were written in achingly gorgeous prose, as were many others. In parts, the book tiptoed near the edge of Hilary Mantel’s territory with regards to the loveliness of the writing.
So, with a tight plot, deep and dimensional characters, and wordplay to die for, The Serpent and the Pearl gets the highest possible rating from me. Bonus: Quinn pulls off that trick I’m always ranting about, first-person narration in historical fiction. It’s so often botched, but here the reader doesn’t miss a speck of emotion or detail, in any of three narrators’ points of view.
And I must say, the narrator who does Leonello’s parts in the audiobook has the sexiest voice. He sounds just like Jeremy Irons! I think I am developing a little crush on Leonello.
December 26, 2020
Enjoyable read. Set among the Borgia clan in the time of Rodrigo's reign as Pope Alexander VI. It is told through 3 voices: Guilia Farnese, the Pope's mistress, Carmelina, a cook in Rodrigo's household with secrets of her own, and Leonello, a dwarf whom becomes Guilia's bodyguard and is haunted inexplicably by a friend's death. This novel tells their stories. In the end, I was most intrigued by Leonello's desire to solve the mystery of the ritual murders of a few women, which included his friend Anna. And would be the only reason to read the sequel. So, that should give an indication of how little of the richness of the historical context is mined in this novel. It was such a time of religious and political upheaval, infighting among families and the various kingdoms, so much intrigue and machinations that the Borgia family dominated. Not much of it here. That was my disappointment in the novel. If you are into cooking (or eating for that matter!) Carmelina's recipes makes one's mouth water!
August 2, 2013
So I'll be honest. I wasn't paying attention when I entered this giveaway, and I mistook this novel as a fantasy story (judging by the very lovely cover and title). When I won, I found out it was historical fiction, set in the 1400's Borgia era in Italy. I wasn't disappointed, but I certainly didn't know what to expect when I started it, as I have zero knowledge of that time period.
But holy shit, The Serpent and the Pearl is one bad-ass novel.
Some may see a book like this and pawn it off as historical romance, a sappy love story from older days, a bodice-ripping tale of espionage and lust. But Quinn is nowhere near the vicinity of fucking around when it comes to this story. The drama is tense, the dialogue is amazing, the conflicts will make you hold your breath as you turn the pages, and for the first time in forever, there are three different narrators who I loved equally. Three narrators that include a high-class concubine, a lower class working woman, and a bodyguard dwarf.
Ugh, I am so in love with this novel.
We start out with one of our narrators, Carmelina, who has run away from her home in Venice under shady circumstances with her father's stolen recipe book and the withered hand of the patron saint of cooks. She finds her gambling, foolhardy cousin working for Adriana de Mila, cousin of future pope Rodrigo Borgia and mother of Orsino Orsini. She starts working in the kitchens, trying to keep her past a secret. She finds a friend in a new addition to the house--Giulia Farnese, Orsini's beautiful new wife and our second narrator.
Guilia is a kind, generous, and blissfully ignorant soul who is beloved by her new house. She is furious when she discovers her marriage is a sham and she's been bargained off as a concubine to Rodrigo Borgia. She spurns his affections for a long time, not wanting to become a joke, but she eventually falls in very honest and true love with him.
Both Carmelina and Giulia are amazing characters. They have bright personalities that leap off the page right from their introduction, from the way Carmelina abuses her poor kitchen assistants to how Giulia eats when she is nervous/angry/sitting outside/bathing. We get these little details about them and it makes us so much closer to them. I also love how they are both unabashedly sexual and their have their own agency when it comes to their sexuality. Giulia anticipates her wedding night and is disappointed when her husband won't perform, and Carmelina has no qualms about bedding her cousin and Cesare Borgia, because they simply don't matter (all that matters is the food). Historical fiction often is tempted to make women simply wives, mistresses, or mothers, but the women in this novel are simply characters--and awesome ones at that.
The third narrator is Leonello, a snarky, book-loving man whose height doesn't stop him from being a master at throwing knives. After a close friend of his is murdered in a macabre way, he sets out for revenge, catching the eye of Cesare Borgia along the way. He is soon hired as Giulia's bodyguard, and his snarky comments and flirty banter with both Giulia and Carmelina are some of the highlights of the book.
The Serpent and the Pearl is clever, well-written, fast-paced, and a ton of fun, but also full of heart and strength. The character development is amazing and the rich descriptions of the Italian landscape and cuisine will make your mouth water. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves a dramatic tale with great characters. I can't wait for the sequel!
But holy shit, The Serpent and the Pearl is one bad-ass novel.
Some may see a book like this and pawn it off as historical romance, a sappy love story from older days, a bodice-ripping tale of espionage and lust. But Quinn is nowhere near the vicinity of fucking around when it comes to this story. The drama is tense, the dialogue is amazing, the conflicts will make you hold your breath as you turn the pages, and for the first time in forever, there are three different narrators who I loved equally. Three narrators that include a high-class concubine, a lower class working woman, and a bodyguard dwarf.
Ugh, I am so in love with this novel.
We start out with one of our narrators, Carmelina, who has run away from her home in Venice under shady circumstances with her father's stolen recipe book and the withered hand of the patron saint of cooks. She finds her gambling, foolhardy cousin working for Adriana de Mila, cousin of future pope Rodrigo Borgia and mother of Orsino Orsini. She starts working in the kitchens, trying to keep her past a secret. She finds a friend in a new addition to the house--Giulia Farnese, Orsini's beautiful new wife and our second narrator.
Guilia is a kind, generous, and blissfully ignorant soul who is beloved by her new house. She is furious when she discovers her marriage is a sham and she's been bargained off as a concubine to Rodrigo Borgia. She spurns his affections for a long time, not wanting to become a joke, but she eventually falls in very honest and true love with him.
Both Carmelina and Giulia are amazing characters. They have bright personalities that leap off the page right from their introduction, from the way Carmelina abuses her poor kitchen assistants to how Giulia eats when she is nervous/angry/sitting outside/bathing. We get these little details about them and it makes us so much closer to them. I also love how they are both unabashedly sexual and their have their own agency when it comes to their sexuality. Giulia anticipates her wedding night and is disappointed when her husband won't perform, and Carmelina has no qualms about bedding her cousin and Cesare Borgia, because they simply don't matter (all that matters is the food). Historical fiction often is tempted to make women simply wives, mistresses, or mothers, but the women in this novel are simply characters--and awesome ones at that.
The third narrator is Leonello, a snarky, book-loving man whose height doesn't stop him from being a master at throwing knives. After a close friend of his is murdered in a macabre way, he sets out for revenge, catching the eye of Cesare Borgia along the way. He is soon hired as Giulia's bodyguard, and his snarky comments and flirty banter with both Giulia and Carmelina are some of the highlights of the book.
The Serpent and the Pearl is clever, well-written, fast-paced, and a ton of fun, but also full of heart and strength. The character development is amazing and the rich descriptions of the Italian landscape and cuisine will make your mouth water. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves a dramatic tale with great characters. I can't wait for the sequel!
February 9, 2019
Rome, 1492. Fifteen-year-old, vivacious Giulia Farnese is looking forward to her marriage to Orsinio Orsini, a young man she'd never met. Orsinio is Adriana de Mila's step son. And Adriana just happens to be the third cousin of the infamous Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who soon will become Pope Alexander VI. But something weird happens after the marriage ceremony: They don't spend their wedding night together because Orsinio never shows up in the room. In fact, she never sees him again after the wedding. Turns out that Cardinal Borgia has his eye on Giulia as his next mistress and wants her close at hand to seduce. He'd even made a deal with Adriana that in return for going through a mock marriage to Giulia, he would help advance Orsinio career.
Carmelina Mangano is a nun from Venice who ran away from the Convent of Santa Marta. To make matters worse, she stole her father's treasured recipe book. He's a master cook in Venice and will want his book back. As if that weren't enough, Carmelina also stole the Church of Santa Marta's sacred relic: Santa Marta's withered hand. Now Carmelina is in Rome seeking her cousin Marco Santini, who's Adriana de Mila's master of the kitchen in her lavish home near Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's palazzo. But, even though there's never been a female master of the kitchen, Carmelina's a much better cook than Marco. So there's bound to be some tension between them.
Leonello is an embittered dwarf who loves to read and makes his living fleecing drunks at card games. He's also a master knife thrower. (After all, if you're too short to use a sword, you'd better be able to protect yourself at a distance by throwing knives.) When a woman friend is brutally murdered, the trail leads Leonello to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's son Caesar. But did Caesar Borgia kill her? Leonello doesn't know for sure – even as he agrees to accept a job from Caesar as Giulia Farnese's personal bodyguard.
Giulia, Carmelina, and Leonello's lives gradually come together as they struggle to maintain and expand their positions within their respective domains. But it's not always easy and the three of them don't always get along. And, when Giulia begins to assert herself with her papal lover, she has to be careful that she doesn't tread too hard on his toes and have him reject her.
I've always loved Renaissance history and well written fiction that takes place during the Renaissance. This novel certainly fits the bill. It's obvious that Quinn did her research on both the setting and the characters. She stays pretty close to the history too, taking liberties only when necessary and filling in the historical gaps with her own ideas to keep the story moving along.
Quinn includes both an historical note at the end that talks about the general history of the period and a cast of characters (which identifies them as real or fiction). She also includes a series of discussion questions, which I've always thought is presumptuous in trade book fiction novels. I did find the stuff about Santa Marta's withered hand a bit over the top and could have done without out it.
All in all, though, the book was an excellent and fun read.
Carmelina Mangano is a nun from Venice who ran away from the Convent of Santa Marta. To make matters worse, she stole her father's treasured recipe book. He's a master cook in Venice and will want his book back. As if that weren't enough, Carmelina also stole the Church of Santa Marta's sacred relic: Santa Marta's withered hand. Now Carmelina is in Rome seeking her cousin Marco Santini, who's Adriana de Mila's master of the kitchen in her lavish home near Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's palazzo. But, even though there's never been a female master of the kitchen, Carmelina's a much better cook than Marco. So there's bound to be some tension between them.
Leonello is an embittered dwarf who loves to read and makes his living fleecing drunks at card games. He's also a master knife thrower. (After all, if you're too short to use a sword, you'd better be able to protect yourself at a distance by throwing knives.) When a woman friend is brutally murdered, the trail leads Leonello to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia's son Caesar. But did Caesar Borgia kill her? Leonello doesn't know for sure – even as he agrees to accept a job from Caesar as Giulia Farnese's personal bodyguard.
Giulia, Carmelina, and Leonello's lives gradually come together as they struggle to maintain and expand their positions within their respective domains. But it's not always easy and the three of them don't always get along. And, when Giulia begins to assert herself with her papal lover, she has to be careful that she doesn't tread too hard on his toes and have him reject her.
I've always loved Renaissance history and well written fiction that takes place during the Renaissance. This novel certainly fits the bill. It's obvious that Quinn did her research on both the setting and the characters. She stays pretty close to the history too, taking liberties only when necessary and filling in the historical gaps with her own ideas to keep the story moving along.
Quinn includes both an historical note at the end that talks about the general history of the period and a cast of characters (which identifies them as real or fiction). She also includes a series of discussion questions, which I've always thought is presumptuous in trade book fiction novels. I did find the stuff about Santa Marta's withered hand a bit over the top and could have done without out it.
All in all, though, the book was an excellent and fun read.
March 23, 2016
If only I had more time, I would have completed this much faster. This was an engrossing read, that I never wanted to put it down. It involved the real family of the Borgias in the late 15th century who were responsible for scandal in the papacy. They had illegitimate children, concubines, wealth, and plenty of malice. The characters, both fictional and historical, were dynamic people with independent thoughts and humor. The only reason it is missing that last star is because she didn't clarify Italian words and I become lost sometimes with the foreign language.
The cook's soliloquys were descriptive and I could almost taste all the dishes she made.
The dwarf bodyguard reminded me of Tyrion from Game of Thrones. They were both avid readers, had sharp tongues, penchant for wine, and had references to lions. Leonello was a poor dwarf who taught himself to read, while Tyrion was born with a silver spoon and had everything at his disposal.
3/22/16
I'm clearing out old books to make room for my new bookshelf and I wanted to update my review. Enjoy!
The cook's soliloquys were descriptive and I could almost taste all the dishes she made.
The dwarf bodyguard reminded me of Tyrion from Game of Thrones. They were both avid readers, had sharp tongues, penchant for wine, and had references to lions. Leonello was a poor dwarf who taught himself to read, while Tyrion was born with a silver spoon and had everything at his disposal.
3/22/16
I'm clearing out old books to make room for my new bookshelf and I wanted to update my review. Enjoy!
Read
September 2, 2013What a shame. I enjoyed Quinn's previous books, but I yielded this one at 165. I was excited to read a book on Giulia Farnese, but Quinn fell flat. I didn't care about Carmelina or the dwarf Leonello. What is it with authors and dwarfs lately? Being familiar with The Borgias and Renaissance Italy, I had a hard time believing this one. It tried too hard to be authentic with basic Italian words italicized , which caused me to get annoyed. I didn't care for any of the characters. I simply did not enjoy this, even though I really wanted to.
February 26, 2015
This book was really wonderful. Kate Quinn has such an ability to create an atmosphere in a specific time period! Carmelita's dishes were mouth-watering, Leonello was funny with his sharp mind, and Giulia was a very endearing character. I liked the entire Borgia family descriptions (Lucrezia, Cesara, Rodigo...), they were really well-done, and as I said before all the scandals and politics of Rome were present in the novel.
I can't wait to read The Serpent and The Pearl's sequel, but I'm also planning to purchase the entire Empress of Rome series. Great read!
I can't wait to read The Serpent and The Pearl's sequel, but I'm also planning to purchase the entire Empress of Rome series. Great read!
July 31, 2024
My 2023 year of Kate Quinn Canon and Works, has just blended into 2024. I finished the Mistress of Rome Series (all five books) and this one, The Serpent and the Pearl is the first of two that take place in Italy, in the time of the Borgias Family.
Our beautiful heroine Guilia is enslaved as a mistress to the rising Pope, and head of the Borgias family. The book is also narrated by a young cook with secrets, who lands in the employ of this family, and an embittered dwarf, bodyguard to our Guilia. The end of the book has our heroic but flawed and vulnerable threesome fighting for their lives, and entangled in a hell of a "pretty pickle", according to our dwarf. This continues in the Lion and the Rose.
For those of you who are Kate Quinn fans, count me as your leader, an interesting fact from the first few pages, is that I believe this series was written in the middle of the Mistresses of Rome series. I am going to bet this is Kate's third book, and its sequel was its fourth.
For those of you who "gotta know," I have an additional two books left of hers to finish, after the sequel to this one is completed. 2023's the Phoenix Crown, and 2024's the Briar Club. Are you curious about who the author is for 2025? I already have a short list going about whose works are going to get my full attention next... Stay tuned.....
Our beautiful heroine Guilia is enslaved as a mistress to the rising Pope, and head of the Borgias family. The book is also narrated by a young cook with secrets, who lands in the employ of this family, and an embittered dwarf, bodyguard to our Guilia. The end of the book has our heroic but flawed and vulnerable threesome fighting for their lives, and entangled in a hell of a "pretty pickle", according to our dwarf. This continues in the Lion and the Rose.
For those of you who are Kate Quinn fans, count me as your leader, an interesting fact from the first few pages, is that I believe this series was written in the middle of the Mistresses of Rome series. I am going to bet this is Kate's third book, and its sequel was its fourth.
For those of you who "gotta know," I have an additional two books left of hers to finish, after the sequel to this one is completed. 2023's the Phoenix Crown, and 2024's the Briar Club. Are you curious about who the author is for 2025? I already have a short list going about whose works are going to get my full attention next... Stay tuned.....
May 28, 2023
A good historical read, quite complex and religious but enjoyed it
October 20, 2019
This took an extra week to read (no idea why. life happens that way) but I loved every minute spent in these pages. Leonello and Carmelina and Giulia were compelling narrators and WHAT KIND OF CLIFFHANGER WAS THAT ENDING? Someone get me the Lion and the Rose, immediately.
But truly, Renaissance Italy comes to life in this book and I was utterly enthralled. Between Carmelina's mouthwatering recipes (oh my god you guys, the FOOD) and Leonello's wit (he's on a level with Tyrion Lannister in more ways than one) and Giulia's beautiful, beautiful heart, I adored this book.
But truly, Renaissance Italy comes to life in this book and I was utterly enthralled. Between Carmelina's mouthwatering recipes (oh my god you guys, the FOOD) and Leonello's wit (he's on a level with Tyrion Lannister in more ways than one) and Giulia's beautiful, beautiful heart, I adored this book.
August 10, 2013
First off, I want to say how much I enjoy Kate Quinn's books. She really knows how to draw a reader in and keep her interested...
I purposely kept myself ignorant of the Borgia's once I knew she was writing a new series about them. I had long been interested, but hadn't searched out a good book to help me learn of them. That being said, I felt like the story we got in Serpent was great! I'm currently looking for other Borgia books to read until her next in the series comes out (2014). Another thing Quinn is great at is creating secondary not actually historic figures that you really want to know about and get emotionally attached to.
I'm afraid to put my thoughts on this book here In case I'm accused of "spoiling" as I was earlier this week even though it was marked as having such. But I definitely recommend this to those interested in historical fiction, Italy, or Borgia's. It won't disappoint!
SPOILER AHEAD
I like Guilia's character a lot. She is kind, loving, passionate. But personally I felt a little whiplashed at her sudden change of heart to become Rodrigo's concubine and her apparent joy in doing so after being so revolted. That's really my main criticism.
It blows my mind how very corrupt the Catholic church's leadership was in those days. Wow!!!
I purposely kept myself ignorant of the Borgia's once I knew she was writing a new series about them. I had long been interested, but hadn't searched out a good book to help me learn of them. That being said, I felt like the story we got in Serpent was great! I'm currently looking for other Borgia books to read until her next in the series comes out (2014). Another thing Quinn is great at is creating secondary not actually historic figures that you really want to know about and get emotionally attached to.
I'm afraid to put my thoughts on this book here In case I'm accused of "spoiling" as I was earlier this week even though it was marked as having such. But I definitely recommend this to those interested in historical fiction, Italy, or Borgia's. It won't disappoint!
SPOILER AHEAD
I like Guilia's character a lot. She is kind, loving, passionate. But personally I felt a little whiplashed at her sudden change of heart to become Rodrigo's concubine and her apparent joy in doing so after being so revolted. That's really my main criticism.
It blows my mind how very corrupt the Catholic church's leadership was in those days. Wow!!!
August 28, 2013
I'm a huge fan of Kate Quinn's Rome series and have been eagerly anticipating her foray into the Renaissance and the world of the Borgias. THE SERPENT AND THE PEARL was well worth the wait!
I know a fair bit about the Borgias, but it was refreshing to see Rodrigo, Cesare, Juan, and Lucrezia as secondary characters here, allowing Guilia Farnese, Carmelina, and Leonello to take center stage. The Bride of Christ (AKA Rodrigo Borgia's concubine), the cook with secrets and a mummified hand in her pocket, and the snarky dwarf bodyguard kept me laughing and flipping pages until the wee hours of the morning. As I've come to expect from Quinn's novels, the characters are flawed, but somehow I always end up rooting for them, even when I want to throttle them. Set all that amidst the lush backdrop of the Renaissance, add a dash of political intrigue, and a dose of black humor and you've got a riveting novel from cover to cover!
I know a fair bit about the Borgias, but it was refreshing to see Rodrigo, Cesare, Juan, and Lucrezia as secondary characters here, allowing Guilia Farnese, Carmelina, and Leonello to take center stage. The Bride of Christ (AKA Rodrigo Borgia's concubine), the cook with secrets and a mummified hand in her pocket, and the snarky dwarf bodyguard kept me laughing and flipping pages until the wee hours of the morning. As I've come to expect from Quinn's novels, the characters are flawed, but somehow I always end up rooting for them, even when I want to throttle them. Set all that amidst the lush backdrop of the Renaissance, add a dash of political intrigue, and a dose of black humor and you've got a riveting novel from cover to cover!
December 21, 2016
A lively, humorous, rollicking read. In fact, it was so good I didn't CARE whether or not it was historically accurate. In fact, I would forgive Kate Quinn almost anything if she would just WRITE FASTER!
This is the first half of a pair about the mysteries around the Borgia family. I like how Kate Quinn deals with the various issues, using her trademark irreverent prose. The fictitious characters of Carmelina and Leonello are engaging and Giulia Farnese is as sympathetic a figure as a character can be :) Despite throwing out the majority of the salacious rumours about the Borgias, KQ's picture of the corrupting effect of absolute power on the family Borgia makes riveting reading - and perfect sense, too. One or two anachronisms poked me in the eye but she's too good a storyteller for those to matter in the greater scheme of things.
NB This was in the Medieval era NOT the Renaissance, as people keep saying - sure it was right at the end of that era but it was still medieval.
This is the first half of a pair about the mysteries around the Borgia family. I like how Kate Quinn deals with the various issues, using her trademark irreverent prose. The fictitious characters of Carmelina and Leonello are engaging and Giulia Farnese is as sympathetic a figure as a character can be :) Despite throwing out the majority of the salacious rumours about the Borgias, KQ's picture of the corrupting effect of absolute power on the family Borgia makes riveting reading - and perfect sense, too. One or two anachronisms poked me in the eye but she's too good a storyteller for those to matter in the greater scheme of things.
NB This was in the Medieval era NOT the Renaissance, as people keep saying - sure it was right at the end of that era but it was still medieval.
August 20, 2013
Rome, 1492. Young Carmelina Mangano has fled Venice for the Holy City with nothing but her clothes and a sacred relic in her possession, hoping to be taken in by her cousin, Marco Santini, who was once her father's apprentice. Carmelina, too, learnt the skill and craft of fine cooking in her father's kitchen, though as a woman she could never have hoped to make a living from it, only a reasonable marriage. Her cousin is the head chef for a grand lady, Madonna Adriana, who has organised a wedding between her young son, Orsino Orsini, and eighteen-year-old Giulia Farnese, one of the most beautiful girls anyone has ever seen, with golden hair almost down to her toes.
The wedding is being held at the opulent home of Cardinal Borgia, Madonna Adriana's cousin, and Maestro Santini and his cooks have taken over the large kitchens to prepare an amazing feast. Only, when Carmelina arrives, her cousin is nowhere to be found and the kitchen is in chaos. Knowing Marco's addiction to gambling and that he probably won't be back in time to do his job, and knowing that if she can step in and save the day it will increase her chances of getting him to take her in, out of gratitude for saving his job if nothing else, Carmelina takes over and puts together an impressive feast, aided by the recipes she stole from her father before she left Venice.
Upstairs, sweet but slightly vain Giulia is delighted to see that her new husband isn't old and fat like the men so many of her friends and even her sister were married off to, but young and handsome. Unfortunately, she soon learns that the marriage is a sham. It's soul purpose is to put Giulia in the position of accepting Cardinal Borgia's overtures, he who saw her in church and has wanted her ever since.
With the current Pope on his deathbed and the ruthless political manoeuvring amongst the upper clergy in full swing, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, one of the most powerful men and certainly one of the wealthiest, is tipped to be the successor. And because he's a Borgia, he doesn't care about hiding his mistress or using his position to elevate his young sons, cold, calculating eighteen-year-old Cesare and lecherous sixteen-year-old Juan, his father's favourite. But because he's a Borgia, he gives Cesare the task of finding a man to protect his mistress and his young daughter, twelve-year-old Lucrezia. Cesare finds just the right bodyguard in the most unlikeliest of places: a dwarf called Leonello who tracked the killers of a friend of his to the Borgia residence and is about to kill a man when Cesare captures him and offers him a deal that he can hardly refuse. After all, everyone overlooks a dwarf, and with his knife skills he's perfectly placed to ensure Giulia and Lucrezia's safety.
Carmelina, Giulia and Leonello find that to survive in the world of power-hungry, corrupt Rome they will need each other, and every trick they know.
This is my first time reading a Kate Quinn novel, and I must say I'm very impressed. Even though I studied (and have a degree in) European history (from the 1100s to the start of WWI), I really can't remember much about this period of history, the Renaissance, or the Borgias, as famous a family as it is, so it was a delight to delve into their world in such depth and detail and with such a fine balance between entertainment, historical accuracy and sheer excitement.
The story is told from the alternating first-person perspectives of Carmelina, Leonello and Giulia, three very different people from very different backgrounds. I grew fond of each of them and found that, flaws and all, I came to really like them and sympathise with them. Carmelina is described as tall, thin and plain, and her temperament is prickly at best. She takes an instant dislike to Leonello, mostly because he is skilled at sniffing out lies and secrets and sees straight away that she's hiding some biggies - and likes to tease and provoke her with his guesses and innuendoes.
Giulia is, initially, a bit spoiled and naïve and silly, but once she become Rodrigo Borgio's mistress - and she doesn't really have much choice, though she does go to him willingly and enjoys it - she puts her training as a noblewoman to good use and learns how to embrace her title of Giulia le Belle or The Bride of Christ, just two of her nicknames. She is derided by her own family who then turn to her for favours, and the women of Rome scorn her even as they ape her fashions. She has power and the ear - and more - of the Pope, but no real friends, except perhaps Carmelina and Leonello. An unpaid servant and a bodyguard with a sharp-witted tongue? But in a place where no one can be trusted, Giulia takes loyalty and honest opinion where she can find it, and matures into a strong-willed, brave woman who juggles her current position with her more humble dreams for an honest life with her real husband.
Leonello is a direct contrast - indeed, all three lead characters are vastly different and present their own unique, specific perspectives to the story - and a character you will most definitely enjoy reading. He's a very interesting character, just as flawed as the two women and with his own agenda. He puts his search for his friend Anna's brutal murder to the side and takes his job of protecting Giulia seriously - he would never admit it but you can tell he genuinely likes her.
Perhaps it was being introduced to a dwarf, and perhaps it's the style of writing and the story itself, but The Serpent and the Pearl put me in mind of certain Fantasy stories, or a style of Fantasy writing, except that this one isn't fantasy and is based on our own historical records. But it reads like a fantasy novel, in the vein of Jennifer Fallon for example - she came to mind first and foremost because of her Hythrun trilogy (Wolfblade etc.), which also featured a wily, clever dwarf with a smart mouth. Quinn writes Leonello with great understanding and compassion and more than a little pride, and he was one of my favourite characters.
With Carmelina's nose for the scents of Rome and good food and her inventive dishes, and her perspective from the servant's areas, the underbelly of what makes a great city tick is revealed in rich detail. Leonello too provides insight into the seedier, more criminal side of living in Rome, while Giulia necessarily adds the pomp and shine to the façade. Between them, life in Rome and beyond from 1492 to 1494 comes vividly, realistically to life. There's an atmosphere of tension and danger, a hint of unpredictability that raises the stakes, and the kind of fear that goes with secrets and corruption. Yet the story isn't all gloomy or dark. There's beauty too, and the kind of gorgeousness great wealth can provide. With Giulia's silver tongue and Leonello's sharp-witted banter, Quinn provides intelligent conversation and exciting dialogue. Politics and political machinations are woven in, as is the threat of war from France over the territory of Naples, and always at the helm, like a big power-hungry spider holding multiple threads, rests the Pope, controlling it all, granting favours and benedictions or removing titles and wealth. Giulia's troubled yearnings for the life she had dreamed of - to be an honest wife, a loving mother, and all that that entails - finally clash with the Pope's furious will, and something will have to give.
The ending took me somewhat by surprise, mostly because it is a cliffhanger ending and I was so caught up in what was happening that when it suddenly ended, it was like having the chair yanked out from under you. Really, The Serpent and the Pearl mostly introduces us to the key characters, puts the pieces into motion and provides the context and background. The story continues in The Lion and the Rose, which I can imagine is when the story really gets going! Even so, The Serpent and the Pearl is an exciting read, successfully combining historical authenticity and realism with interesting, flawed and sympathetic characters and a gripping story that doesn't sacrifice character development to plot. A fine achievement!
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.
The wedding is being held at the opulent home of Cardinal Borgia, Madonna Adriana's cousin, and Maestro Santini and his cooks have taken over the large kitchens to prepare an amazing feast. Only, when Carmelina arrives, her cousin is nowhere to be found and the kitchen is in chaos. Knowing Marco's addiction to gambling and that he probably won't be back in time to do his job, and knowing that if she can step in and save the day it will increase her chances of getting him to take her in, out of gratitude for saving his job if nothing else, Carmelina takes over and puts together an impressive feast, aided by the recipes she stole from her father before she left Venice.
Upstairs, sweet but slightly vain Giulia is delighted to see that her new husband isn't old and fat like the men so many of her friends and even her sister were married off to, but young and handsome. Unfortunately, she soon learns that the marriage is a sham. It's soul purpose is to put Giulia in the position of accepting Cardinal Borgia's overtures, he who saw her in church and has wanted her ever since.
With the current Pope on his deathbed and the ruthless political manoeuvring amongst the upper clergy in full swing, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, one of the most powerful men and certainly one of the wealthiest, is tipped to be the successor. And because he's a Borgia, he doesn't care about hiding his mistress or using his position to elevate his young sons, cold, calculating eighteen-year-old Cesare and lecherous sixteen-year-old Juan, his father's favourite. But because he's a Borgia, he gives Cesare the task of finding a man to protect his mistress and his young daughter, twelve-year-old Lucrezia. Cesare finds just the right bodyguard in the most unlikeliest of places: a dwarf called Leonello who tracked the killers of a friend of his to the Borgia residence and is about to kill a man when Cesare captures him and offers him a deal that he can hardly refuse. After all, everyone overlooks a dwarf, and with his knife skills he's perfectly placed to ensure Giulia and Lucrezia's safety.
Carmelina, Giulia and Leonello find that to survive in the world of power-hungry, corrupt Rome they will need each other, and every trick they know.
This is my first time reading a Kate Quinn novel, and I must say I'm very impressed. Even though I studied (and have a degree in) European history (from the 1100s to the start of WWI), I really can't remember much about this period of history, the Renaissance, or the Borgias, as famous a family as it is, so it was a delight to delve into their world in such depth and detail and with such a fine balance between entertainment, historical accuracy and sheer excitement.
The story is told from the alternating first-person perspectives of Carmelina, Leonello and Giulia, three very different people from very different backgrounds. I grew fond of each of them and found that, flaws and all, I came to really like them and sympathise with them. Carmelina is described as tall, thin and plain, and her temperament is prickly at best. She takes an instant dislike to Leonello, mostly because he is skilled at sniffing out lies and secrets and sees straight away that she's hiding some biggies - and likes to tease and provoke her with his guesses and innuendoes.
Giulia is, initially, a bit spoiled and naïve and silly, but once she become Rodrigo Borgio's mistress - and she doesn't really have much choice, though she does go to him willingly and enjoys it - she puts her training as a noblewoman to good use and learns how to embrace her title of Giulia le Belle or The Bride of Christ, just two of her nicknames. She is derided by her own family who then turn to her for favours, and the women of Rome scorn her even as they ape her fashions. She has power and the ear - and more - of the Pope, but no real friends, except perhaps Carmelina and Leonello. An unpaid servant and a bodyguard with a sharp-witted tongue? But in a place where no one can be trusted, Giulia takes loyalty and honest opinion where she can find it, and matures into a strong-willed, brave woman who juggles her current position with her more humble dreams for an honest life with her real husband.
Leonello is a direct contrast - indeed, all three lead characters are vastly different and present their own unique, specific perspectives to the story - and a character you will most definitely enjoy reading. He's a very interesting character, just as flawed as the two women and with his own agenda. He puts his search for his friend Anna's brutal murder to the side and takes his job of protecting Giulia seriously - he would never admit it but you can tell he genuinely likes her.
Perhaps it was being introduced to a dwarf, and perhaps it's the style of writing and the story itself, but The Serpent and the Pearl put me in mind of certain Fantasy stories, or a style of Fantasy writing, except that this one isn't fantasy and is based on our own historical records. But it reads like a fantasy novel, in the vein of Jennifer Fallon for example - she came to mind first and foremost because of her Hythrun trilogy (Wolfblade etc.), which also featured a wily, clever dwarf with a smart mouth. Quinn writes Leonello with great understanding and compassion and more than a little pride, and he was one of my favourite characters.
With Carmelina's nose for the scents of Rome and good food and her inventive dishes, and her perspective from the servant's areas, the underbelly of what makes a great city tick is revealed in rich detail. Leonello too provides insight into the seedier, more criminal side of living in Rome, while Giulia necessarily adds the pomp and shine to the façade. Between them, life in Rome and beyond from 1492 to 1494 comes vividly, realistically to life. There's an atmosphere of tension and danger, a hint of unpredictability that raises the stakes, and the kind of fear that goes with secrets and corruption. Yet the story isn't all gloomy or dark. There's beauty too, and the kind of gorgeousness great wealth can provide. With Giulia's silver tongue and Leonello's sharp-witted banter, Quinn provides intelligent conversation and exciting dialogue. Politics and political machinations are woven in, as is the threat of war from France over the territory of Naples, and always at the helm, like a big power-hungry spider holding multiple threads, rests the Pope, controlling it all, granting favours and benedictions or removing titles and wealth. Giulia's troubled yearnings for the life she had dreamed of - to be an honest wife, a loving mother, and all that that entails - finally clash with the Pope's furious will, and something will have to give.
The ending took me somewhat by surprise, mostly because it is a cliffhanger ending and I was so caught up in what was happening that when it suddenly ended, it was like having the chair yanked out from under you. Really, The Serpent and the Pearl mostly introduces us to the key characters, puts the pieces into motion and provides the context and background. The story continues in The Lion and the Rose, which I can imagine is when the story really gets going! Even so, The Serpent and the Pearl is an exciting read, successfully combining historical authenticity and realism with interesting, flawed and sympathetic characters and a gripping story that doesn't sacrifice character development to plot. A fine achievement!
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.
January 12, 2014
"The Serpent and the Pearl" is the first book in Kate Quinn's two part series on the infamous Borgia family. The second book, "The Lion and the Rose" comes out very early in 2014 (I am sooo excited for that book after reading this one). If you like your historical fiction served with a side of deliciousness, this will be a good pick for you.
The book follows three characters and I loved all three of them. There is gorgeous Giulia, who is forced to become the mistress to Cardinal Borgia. There is Carmelina, a fabulous cook that is hiding from her past in Rome. Then there is Leonello, a dwarf who is hiding secrets of his own. Even with the switches between these three characters, I never felt like I was missing out on anything. I loved following all three characters.
The historical detail in the book is great! The Borgias can be a hard family to navigate because there is just so much going on with them both in public and in secret. Quinn deftly moves us through all of the different relationships between the characters against a very vivid backdrop of Rome.
The food is a huge part of the book. Everything Carmelina makes in the book sounds amazing! Do not read this book on an empty stomach!
Overall, this is a fantastic book. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book!
The book follows three characters and I loved all three of them. There is gorgeous Giulia, who is forced to become the mistress to Cardinal Borgia. There is Carmelina, a fabulous cook that is hiding from her past in Rome. Then there is Leonello, a dwarf who is hiding secrets of his own. Even with the switches between these three characters, I never felt like I was missing out on anything. I loved following all three characters.
The historical detail in the book is great! The Borgias can be a hard family to navigate because there is just so much going on with them both in public and in secret. Quinn deftly moves us through all of the different relationships between the characters against a very vivid backdrop of Rome.
The food is a huge part of the book. Everything Carmelina makes in the book sounds amazing! Do not read this book on an empty stomach!
Overall, this is a fantastic book. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book!
April 13, 2015
I knew absolutely nothing of the Borgias family and when I Googled them words like depravity, corruption, incest popped up.
Just don’t Google what Pope Alexander IV looked like because he really was quite ugly, which goes against his reputation as ladies man with multiple mistresses.
In Italy the Pope was the equivalent of the Royal family to England and he could basically do as he pleases, including taking another man’s wife as his concubine AND moving her into a luxury house right next to the Vatican.
The writing style made for a fun and very easy reading experience from the perspective of Giulia (the mistress), Carmelita (the cook) and Leonelle (the dwarf bodyguard). I really enjoyed all three voices but Leonelle was the ultimate favourite. I was amazed at how wonderful and diverse the food was for the time period and was thankful of the author notes at the end to distinguish between fact and fiction.
This was a wonderful read to absorb a (mostly) historically accurate story of a family I knew nothing about. I will most definitely be stocking up on all this author’s other books. It was such a pleasure reading this!
Just don’t Google what Pope Alexander IV looked like because he really was quite ugly, which goes against his reputation as ladies man with multiple mistresses.
In Italy the Pope was the equivalent of the Royal family to England and he could basically do as he pleases, including taking another man’s wife as his concubine AND moving her into a luxury house right next to the Vatican.
The writing style made for a fun and very easy reading experience from the perspective of Giulia (the mistress), Carmelita (the cook) and Leonelle (the dwarf bodyguard). I really enjoyed all three voices but Leonelle was the ultimate favourite. I was amazed at how wonderful and diverse the food was for the time period and was thankful of the author notes at the end to distinguish between fact and fiction.
This was a wonderful read to absorb a (mostly) historically accurate story of a family I knew nothing about. I will most definitely be stocking up on all this author’s other books. It was such a pleasure reading this!
July 8, 2017
I read this book for 2 reasons:
1) I loved Kate Quinn's Rome series and will basically read anything she writes in the hope that it was good
2) I'm interested in the Borgias but know little about them and thought this might be a good place to start.
Fortunately, I was right about both! Quinn once again does a great job both world and character building, diving you straight into the politics and culture of the time while simultaneously getting you caught up in the characters. The story is told from 3 POVs: Guilia, the pope's mistress, Leonello, her body guard, and Carmelina, her cook. All three have different secrets, stories, and motives, and all three have very different voices, which some authors are less successful at doing.
I highly recommend this book. You don't already have to be a Borgia expert to enjoy, but from what I can tell if you ARE you aren't going to be driven crazy by PG levels of over-fictionalizing. Quinn even has a nice little notes section in the back to explain what she changed and why.
1) I loved Kate Quinn's Rome series and will basically read anything she writes in the hope that it was good
2) I'm interested in the Borgias but know little about them and thought this might be a good place to start.
Fortunately, I was right about both! Quinn once again does a great job both world and character building, diving you straight into the politics and culture of the time while simultaneously getting you caught up in the characters. The story is told from 3 POVs: Guilia, the pope's mistress, Leonello, her body guard, and Carmelina, her cook. All three have different secrets, stories, and motives, and all three have very different voices, which some authors are less successful at doing.
I highly recommend this book. You don't already have to be a Borgia expert to enjoy, but from what I can tell if you ARE you aren't going to be driven crazy by PG levels of over-fictionalizing. Quinn even has a nice little notes section in the back to explain what she changed and why.
January 27, 2015
This was a quick, easy introduction to the Borgias. It was my first Kate Quinn book and for some reason I expected something a bit more highbrow, instead it was fun, fast-paced and entertaining. I liked all three the main characters but Leonello, the dwarf bodyguard, was my firm favorite. It felt a bit like Tyrion Lannester from Game of Thrones was making a guest appearance.
I definitely want to read more about the Borgias, and think I will try Blood & Beauty: The Borgias quite soon. For those of you who are not familiar with this family's antics, here's a quote from the author's note: Rodrigo Borgio was hardly the first Pope to aggrandize his family, keep a mistress, or sire illegitimate children; he simply refused to hide any of it under the usual cloak of lies.
I definitely want to read more about the Borgias, and think I will try Blood & Beauty: The Borgias quite soon. For those of you who are not familiar with this family's antics, here's a quote from the author's note: Rodrigo Borgio was hardly the first Pope to aggrandize his family, keep a mistress, or sire illegitimate children; he simply refused to hide any of it under the usual cloak of lies.
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