in the company of the courtesan by sarah dunant

She imagines herself into the heart and mind of this intelligent, crafty dwarf, who lives off his wits and the proceeds of his mistress, and is determined to save both her and himself. Yet having survived the vicissitudes of invasion, attack and illness, Fiammetta appears on the point of casting her hard-won success to the winds by indulging in that most fatal of temptations - love.ĭunant succeeds in engaging our sympathy not only with Fiammetta but equally with the narrator, the misshapen and ugly Bucino.

She has awarded Fiammetta the physical features of the anonymous woman who is the subject of Titian's painting The Venus of Urbino, while mentally and spiritually she is the epitome of the golden age of the courtesan - a woman who has mastered the arts not only of the bedroom but also of the intellect, and who can pluck the strings of a lute as skilfully as she caresses her (paying) lover. Her skill is evident in the fact that the 'real' characters - including the writer and 'scourge of princes' Pietro Aretino, and the painter Titian - do not seem out of place among their fictional counterparts. Sarah Dunant is a highly satisfying storyteller, and in her hands 16th-century Venice comes to life convincingly. And so they hastily swallow mouthfuls of precious jewels and set off on a dangerous journey back to Venice, Fiammetta's home town, where she learnt her craft. These tactics keep her alive for a night but after her most prized possession, her glorious hair - 'streams of white gold and sunflower mixed with honey and red chestnut' - has been hacked off by 'Lutheran harpies', she and Bucino - her devoted companion, business manager and pimp - realise that the only option is flight. At first Fiammetta employs her seductive wiles to unman the invading soldiers.

In the company of the courtesan by sarah dunant