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megmcardle 's review for:
In the Company of the Courtesan
by Sarah Dunant
This novel opens with a beautiful courtesan and her ugly dwarf of a servant fleeing the sacking of Rome in 1527. Not getting away unscathed, the courtesan Fiammetta has lost much of her looks and health, and they are living on the jewels they were able to smuggle out of Rome by swallowing them. Bucino the dwarf must help his mistress recover her beauty and her professional standing as they try and re-establish themselves in Venice. To help get Fiammetta back on her back earning them money, they must enlist the aid of the mysterious healer La Draga. Incredibly rich in historical detail, it is the characters that really make this novel compelling. Bucino is a smart and trustworthy narrator, and we follow him and the beautiful Fiametta as they negotiate carefully between the many dangerous arenas of politics, religion, and love. The book, like the times it is set in, is full of intrigues. It shows the characters going from the heights of luxury, to frightening poverty, and clawing their way back up again.