The Lion of St. Mark: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century

by G.A. Henty

A story of Venice in the 14th century, a period when her strength and splendor were put to the severest tests.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Adventure, School, Young Adult, Historical, Audiobook

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

George Alfred Henty, better known as G.A. Henty, began his storytelling career with his own children. After dinner, he would spend and hour or two in telling them a story that would continue the next day. Some stories took weeks! A friend was present one day and watched the spell-bound reaction of his children suggesting Henty write down his stories so others could enjoy them. He did. Henty wrote approximately 144 books in addition to stories for magazines and was known as "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian." One of Mr. Henty's secretaries reported that he would quickly pace back and forth in his study dictating stories as fast as the secretary could record them.

Henty's stories revolve around fictional boy heroes during fascinating periods of history. His heroes are diligent, intelligent, and dedicated to their country and cause in the face, at times, of great peril... Henty's heroes fight wars, sail the seas, discover land, conquer evil empires, prospect for gold, and a host of other exciting adventures. Along the way, they meet famous personages... In short, Henty's heroes live through tumultuous historic eras meeting leaders of that time. Understanding the culture of the time period becomes second nature as well as comparing/contrasting the society of various cultures.

Reviews

[BooksNCrannies · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing tale about the City of the Waters...

Set in 14th century Venice, The Lion of St. Mark features an interesting and different historical setting. I appreciated the historical insights that Henty incorporates into this book; I learned a lot about many different aspects of this once-great city and the conflicts which Venice was involved in at this time. Because this story is plot-driven, character development is lacking. Also the writing can be a bit detailed at times which slows the story down. But despite these few complaints, I still enjoyed The Lion of St. Mark and think it an excellent reading choice for those interested in an exciting historical adventure written in the era of classical literature.


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📖 BOOK BREAKDOWN 📖 (Overall: 3/5)
Fundamentals: (1=worst; 5=best)
— 📈 Plot: 3/5
— 📝 Writing: 3/5
— 👥 Characters: 2/5
Content: (0=none; 1=least; 5=most)
— 🤬 Language: 0/5
— ⚔️ Violence: 0/5
— ⚠️ S*xual: 0/5

Favorite Quotes :

— "'Where all are supposed to be equal, there is ever envy and jealousy against one who rises above the rest. The multitude is fickle and easily led; and the first change of fortune, however slight, is seized upon by enemies as a cause of complaint, and the popular hero of to-day may be an exile to-morrow.'"

[Susan Soesbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Hammond is an upstanding young Englishman living in 14th century Venice. By dint of curiosity, hard work, self-discipline, courage, ingenuity, and honour, he goes from being a person of no consequence, to being indispensible, honoured, prosperous, and well-married.

I do admire Francis and want to watch him succeed (with ups and downs on the way, certainly, but I know he will prevail in the end). But I read for the sentence structure and vocabulary. Listen to this statement from Francis's father the morning after Francis risks his life to prevent two young ladies from being kidnapped: "Hitherto I have not checked your love for arms, or your intercourse with youths of far higher rank than your own; but I have been for some time doubting the wisdom of my course in bringing you out here with me, and have regretted that I did not leave you in good hands at home."

I want to go where people talk like that! Since I know of no place in the real world, I have to read Henty.

As he leads his men in breaking out of captivity and retaking a ship seized by the Genoese, Francis explains, "It will be necessary to remove another plank first, but perhaps one of the slighter among you might manage to squeeze through, and hold the plank at the back. We shall be able to work with more freedom, if we know that there is no danger of its falling."

Now that's the way to use English!

[Michael Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best Henty books we've read. It is close to The Dragon and the Raven, though not quite as good.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly an enjoyable story. There were about three instances of superfluous recapitulations - just because one character wasn't present for events doesn't mean that the reader - who was - needs to hear it again. There were also sections of history that were recounted at length without any attempt to link in the fictional protagonist. I don't know that I will read (listen to) all of Henty's works, but I wouldn't mind trying one or two more. I like to imagine that the Swallows and Amazons were familiar with his books (as well as those of Stevenson and Defoe).

[Jjean · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting adventure novel based in Venice in the 14th century - enjoyed reading about the pirates and traveling by sea - interesting family life, and how they lived, traveled, and beliefs.

[Elizabeth Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. This is fabulous historical fiction, friendship, bravery, gondola racing, and adventure all rolled into one book. I would have given it 4.25 stars, but I knocked out down to 4 because I felt like the last chapter was so rushed.

[Denae Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reader thoughts: This is one of those few school books that I enjoyed just as well the second time. My mom read it to me a long time ago (she read tons of GA Henty books to us, which gave us a better vocabulary), and I recently found the audiobook for download on my library's overdrive.

This GAH is just like his other books, only in Venice and with fewer drawn-out war descriptions. There were only a few battles that seemed impersonal, and it was more interesting to have everything done by ships instead of companies and legions anyway. I tried Winning His Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades a year or two ago and couldn't get through it because most of the book was about battles and army movements instead of characters and personal conflicts. The Lion of St. Mark was much better.

The MC is typical of GAH's MCs (save the lady, be the hero, get captured once or twice, catch the notice of the authorities and famous war leaders, have a loyal friend or two, be an excellent fighter/swordsman, and carry great responsibility with maturity). Francisco starts at age 16 and ends about 22ish.

Writer thoughts: Why does GAH use a formula for his plots and MCs in his historical fiction books? Well, it's because they work. If readers have enjoyed Henty's MCs in other books, they'll enjoy the rest. It does get repetitious after a while, but every setting and time and war are new. Readers won't have to take as long to get to know the characters because we've sort of already met them.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I call this an old time epic/ coming of age. Reminds me of French authors like Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo, but without the long digressions.

[Viva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers ahead.

One of the better GA Henty books I've read. I'd gotten about 50 of them from the Kindle store and now I'm going through them slowly. This one is about an English lad (Francis Hammond) in 14th century Venice. He is there with his father who is an English trader.

He plans to follow in his footsteps of his father. He makes plenty of friends in Venice and one day comes under the eye of Polani, a wealthy Venetian trader and the cousin of his best friend Matteo. He agrees to work for him to learn the trade and later on stays behind as his father's agent when his father goes back to England.

He undergoes a lot of adventures including saving Polani's daughters from kidnappers, fighting against pirates, escaping from pirates, fighting against the Genoese (who are in competition and also war sometimes during this book). The Venetians have a citizen navy and Francis joins the fight against the Genoese during the War of Chioggia.

I enjoyed Francis's fictional adventures in the first half of the book but enjoyed them less during the War of Chioggia because here the writing is constricted to follow the war and I didn't come here to read history. But generally the writing was easy to read and follow and Francis' adventures were all done in easy mode, i.e. he vanquishes his opponents with fair ease and only acquires recoverable injuries.

As usual with GA Henty boy-heroes, he is smarter than everyone, even adults, gains a valuable local helper (in this case Philippo, a gondolier) and is generally much more mature than his age and is also good in fighting, stature and moral compass. He is also nationalistic but that is to be expected of GA Henty books. In the end, I also enjoyed it because it gave me some insight into 14th century Venice, something I'd always wanted to read about. Overall, a nice turn of the century boy adventure book.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francis Hammond is English by birth, but has lived in Venice for several years with his merchant/trader father. Though he isn't socially equal to the city's nobles in the 14th century, however, because many of their houses are or were merchants, and because he is a foreigner, Francis is allowed to attend the same weapons school which leads to him getting to know some of the young noble men and get involved in affairs beyond his normal station. This causes quite the uproar when Francis is instrumental in thwarting the kidnapping of two young women by one of the leading houses and in a city where assassinations are considered normal, if not completely "lawful", he effectively paints a pretty big target on his own back. Fortunately for Francis, with the powerful enemies, he's also made powerful friends as the young ladies family is just as well connected as their would be abductor. In the background of all this intrigue, Venice herself is in danger of war from the Hungary, Padua and Genoa coalition and, Francis being Francis, he manages to get swept up into the tangle of ocean warfare as well.

I've been reading Henty's books since I was a preteen, and I've always loved them! Part of it is the writing style, which modern readers may complain about flat characters and info dumps, but I like learning about times/places that I have no other knowledge about (I may have read.. one? other book series with anything to do with this time period in Italy) and I love the fact that Henty's main characters are heroic! They may not be completely relatable to modern audiences because they don't whine and bemoan their circumstances, they do things about it! They work hard, they use their brains, they aren't afraid to stand up for themselves or the people around them and they want to do the right thing, even when it makes their lives harder. In other words, they give the reader a hero to aspire to emulate, which, according to his notes, was Henty's purpose in writing. This was also very typical of his era's writing style, so I find it very authentic feeling.

As far as this book goes, it isn't my favorite Henty, and if I could I'd give it 3.5 stars; it didn't flow as well as some of his other books, but it was still an enjoyable, and fairly action packed read, that would be suitable for boys or girls interested in heroics and history.

Content notes: No language issues. The young ladies who are threatened with abduction were being kidnapped to be married off, but this is prevented from happening; otherwise only maybe kissing on page. Violence is of the time period: street brawls, ship-to-ship battles with swords, bows and pikes used to cause damage and death, on land battles also include very basic cannons; deaths or injuries are only briefly described as a sword cut to the side, or an arrow to the eye, though one of the illustrations is the death of one of the main bad guys.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun adventure novel based in Venice in the 14th century. Kinda hardy boys and Horacio Alger go to Venice. Gives the reader a glimpse of the culture of Venice (commerce). The only time religion is specifically mentioned is near the end which is shortchanging that aspect to satisfy British (Protestant) readers who are the primary market for this book.

[Bill Suits · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work and more about being in the Venetian navy than anything else. It started out well then lost me. No where near as exciting as other navy stories of his.

[Nina Granlund · Rating 2 out of 5]

Luin suomeksi, ei löytynyt listasta. Vähän junnaavaa poikajännitystä, mutta ihan hyviä meritaisteluja silti.

[Leslie Moellering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun read from Henty. This interesting look at Venice in the 1300s had plenty of fictional storyline mixed with historical information to make it interesting and keep the story going.

[Jeb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best G.A Henty i have ever read.

[Lone Star Republic · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this tale, Henty tells the story of the war between Venice and Genoa for control over trade. He tells the story from the perspective of young Francis Hammond, an English boy, who is with his father, who is a merchant who does business in Italy. He saves the two daughters of a wealthy merchant, gaining him the merchant's friendship. He boards a trading vessel, and distinguishes himself in a battle with pirates. When the war breaks out, he goes through many exciting adventures. And finally, at the end of it all, he marries and settles in. An excellent book, weaving an exciting fictional story with real facts about Italy and the War between Venice and Genoa.

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

It seems I have a new favourite author! G. A. Henty has a talent for writing exceptional historical fiction. I’ve had this book in my library for some time and finally listened. I actually had two copies and chose the one narrated by Ralph Cosham as the most enjoyable for my ear. There was never a moment when I wasn’t fully engaged with the story, enjoying even the battles (which I rarely do). The characters were rich and memorable. I loved the sensory scenes of ancient Venice he painted with his words… I could see the waters and the gondolas, I could hear the water, I can’t wait to read more of his works.

[Gerard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is historical fiction targeting adolescent audiences from the 19th century. As such, it is entirely plot driven. Francis Hammond is an English teenager living in Venice with his merchant father when he uncovers a political conspiracy. He has to survive this plot and the ever-growing threat to Venice by Genoa and Padua.
The story is plagued by repetition. The events are often recounted up to three times. Characterization is kept at bare minimum. The writing style is so dry, formal and stilted that even the colorful setting of Venice seemed drab. 2 stars.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

11 Mr Henty was known to write stirring derring -do stories with a focus on a young man living through momentous times. And this novel is no different. It remains surprisingly relatable despite some of the florid prose. A 7 degree of separation thing - On 16 November 1902, Henty died aboard his yacht in Weymouth Harbour, Dorset, leaving unfinished his last novel, By Conduct and Courage, which was completed by his son Captain C.G. Henty. Yay Weymouth.

[Esther May · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit, I listened to this book. It was read by Jim Weiss, who is absolutely fabulous. The book itself was great. I love the loyalty, bravery, ingenuity, and the little romance that happened in this book. My children enjoyed it as well. Many times we would return home and sit in the car for a while because we just did not want to turn it off.

[Jocie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very masculine adventure/history book. I really enjoyed reading this book with my husband, and my kids were begging me to tell them what was happening next!

I learned about Venice, boats, and battle!

[Frode · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good Henty novel. It had adventure, character building, good morals, and some interesting facts about 14th C. Venice. Henty's stories tend to move along, and this one fit the mold nicely. It is a good boy's novel, but adults can profit from it as well.

[Spenser White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is classic Henty. A well rounded back-drop of historical facts, coupled with a sound adventure. This book follows a rather unknown part of Medieval history: the war between the city-states of Venice and Genoa. Great, exciting read.

[brian dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a young-adult novel but a fun one none-the-less. Learn how all of Venice was saved by an English teenager.

[Barry Frangipane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a great example of why professional editors are worth the investment.

[Susan]

66 pages were enough.

[Rachel]

very interesting

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked it.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked it