Renaissance Fiction

Firenze, 1469. Lorenzo de' Medici sta vincendo il torneo in onore della sua sposa, Clarice Orsini, appena giunta a Firenze per le nozze con l'uomo che diventerà il Magnifico. Questo matrimonio non è un passo facile per Lorenzo: il suo cuore - ne è convinto - appartiene e sempre apparterrà a Lucrezia Donati, donna di straordinaria bellezza e fascino. Eppure asseconderà il volere della madre e rafforzerà l'alleanza con una potente famiglia romana.

La dura vita di bottegai, prostitute, schiavi ed ebrei del ghetto contrasta con l'abbagliante ricchezza della città lagunare, meta di mercanti provenienti da ogni parte del mondo per fare fortuna. Ma alla prosperità, si sa, si accompagna spesso la corruzione. In un'epoca in cui l'inganno, la malizia e la perversione prosperano al pari dell'arte e della filosofia, i lupi hanno vita facile. Sono individui spregiudicati, che si muovono famelici, fiutando le migliori opportunità per acquisire sempre più potere, coinvolgendo ignare pedine nelle loro oscure trame.

Королева Марго — один из самых известных романов, вышедших из-под пера мастера историко-приключенческой литературы Александра Дюма. Роман повествует о гугенотских войнах, о кровавом противостоянии протестантов и католиков, а также о придворных интригах, в которые поневоле оказывается втянутой королева Марго.

Lucy’s Chantress magic will make her the most powerful - and most hunted - girl in England. “Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now, it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing - and soon she is swept away into the darkness.

Enjoy these classic love poems by Harlem Renaissance women authors. The journey here begins in seduction and endures trials and ends with a hint of past wonders.

A night patrol finds a wealthy merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main square. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way. Does this new killing mean his fanatical disciples are reviving the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo is busy hunting thieves in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing.

D'un échec naît parfois un nouveau départ. À la tête d'un grand studio hollywoodien depuis près de vingt ans, Andy Westfield aime son métier plus que tout. Mais il voit son existence s'effondrer quand il est licencié du jour au lendemain. Afin de passer ce cap difficile, il part se réfugier en Angleterre, dans une petite station balnéaire. Là-bas, il fait la connaissance de Violet Smith. La jeune femme, ancienne journaliste, aspire elle aussi à retrouver la paix après une série de drames personnels.

Tutoyant avec aisance, à rebours des modes, une forme classique très maîtrisée, Michel Houellebecq met en scène dans ses poèmes un quotidien contemporain et urbain. Ses vers nous parlent de lui, nous parlent de nous et accèdent à lu'niversel, installant ainsi leur auteur, comme un Villon de la modernité, au rang des grands poètes populaires.

Carcassonne, 1526: Minou Joubert wächst als Tochter eines katholischen Buchhändlers auf. Eines Tages erhält sie einen versiegelten Brief mit den Worten: "Sie weiß, dass Ihr lebt." Noch bevor sie herausfinden kann, was hinter der mysteriösen Botschaft steckt, wird die Begegnung mit dem jungen Piet Reydon ihr Leben für immer verändern. Denn der Hugenotte hat eine gefährliche Mission, und er zählt auf Minous Hilfe, um aus der Stadt zu fliehen.

Isola d'Elba, 1544. I corsari turchi, al comando di Khayr al-Din detto Barbarossa, sbarcano nottetempo su una spiaggia accanto a Longone – l'odierna Porto Azzurro – dove Lucero e sua sorella Angiolina si preparano alla pesca dei calamari. Lucero viene ferito, Angiolina rapita. Il mondo si apre, la storia comincia. Lucero, guidato da un indomabile sentimento di vendetta, si trasforma – anche grazie all'incontro con il capitano Rodrigo, compagno e mentore – in un "duellante imbattibile" e in un soldato di ventura.

In a chamber overlooking the nighttime waterways of a maritime city, a man looks back on his youth and the people who shaped his life. Danio Cerra's intelligence won him entry to a renowned school even though he was only the son of a tailor. He took service at the court of a ruling count - and soon learned why that man was known as the Beast.

A new edition of one of the most important books in American history - Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. The audiobook is expertly read by Daniel Adam Day. "No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language." (Thomas Jefferson). Published by American Renaissance Books.

London, 1628. Nicolaes de Pelgrom, assassin and devoted servant of George Villiers, will do whatever his master asks of him—even if that means enduring the perilous voyage to the Indies to exact a grieving widow's revenge. Making that same journey is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a conniving apothecary determined to escape the backstreets of Amsterdam and become rich beyond imagination. Hired by a criminal mastermind to escort precious cargo to the Indies, he will kill anyone who stands in his way.

Leonardo watched helplessly as his artistic and engineering achievements were demolished by the invading armies. Exhausted and despondent, the artist abandons his workshop in Milan. But where will he go? Everything was left behind in his escape and he is now without funds. An artist need a patron to survive. An invitation to paint a portrait of Isabella d’Este is welcome but, Leonardo suspects an ulterior motive. If he is right. . . accepting could prove dangerous. Leonardo and Niccolo arrive at a lavish palace in chaos. Spies are everywhere attempting to discover how and why a valuable ...

Winter, 1607. A man is struck down in the grounds of Battle Abbey, Sussex. Before dawn breaks, he is dead. Home to the Montagues, Battle has caught the paranoid eye of King James. The Catholic household is rumoured to shelter those loyal to the Pope, disguising them as servants within the abbey walls. And the last man sent to expose them was silenced before his report could reach London. Daniel Pursglove is summoned to infiltrate Battle and find proof of treachery. He soon discovers that nearly everyone at the abbey has something to hide.

L’opera al nero è la storia di un personaggio immaginario, Zenone, medico, alchimista, filosofo, dalla nascita illegittima a Bruges nei primi anni...

King Henry V's beautiful widow, Catherine, is determined to marry Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentleman-at-arms. But her life decisions are not her own, overshadowed as she is by more powerful men who are closer to the Throne. The Duke of Bedford would marry her off to a foreign prince, Henry Beaufort would give his allegiance in exchange for a Cardinal's hat, and the handsome Duke of Gloucester, brother of the dead king, openly desires her. Added to that, her son, the King, is a weak child. She must use all her wits and courage if she is to forge a new life for herself.

In una sala buia della Galleria Palatina, il merlo Mercurio consegna una pergamena con un oscuro enigma a Nina, Jamal e Lorenzo. Quando un fulmine squarcia il cielo, i tre ragazzi si ritrovano smarriti in mezzo alla campagna veneta, in un tempo molto lontano. Nelle vicinanze c'è il casolare di Giorgione, ma il famoso pittore è scomparso. Tra mercanti in collera, pericolosi soldati e altre viscide insidie, i tre amici dovranno ritrovare l'artista e scoprire il suo segreto, prima di poter tornare a Firenze.

Forcibly seduced by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham and the king's favourite, doctor's daughter Hester was cast aside to raise her illegitimate son, Rafe, alone and in secret. She hopes never to see his father again. Melis's visions cause disquiet and talk. She sees what others can't - and what has yet to be. She'd be denounced as a witch if Hester wasn't so carefully protective. Young Hope's beauty marks her out, drawing unwelcome attention to the family. Yet she cannot always resist others' advances. And her sisters cannot always be on their guard.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Richard Brautigan was a counter-cultural celebrity, a writer that the would-be hip just had to read. The problem was that his fame did not rest on the considerable literary virtues of his work but, to a great extent, on a mediated image of cool hippie/rock star exemplified by the photograph of him on the cover of his breakthrough novel, Trout Fishing in America. When nobody wanted tie-dye shirts and gurus any more, they didn’t want Brautigan either. Academics have followed the public’s lead: this is the first book-length study of Brautigan in English ...