House Aretoli: A Novel of Medieval Venice
This book is set in the mid-14th century principally in Venice and Constantinople. The family of the hero Niccolo (house Aretoli) becomes entangled in international politics, and personal tragedy ensues. As the stakes increase, Niccolo is forced to contrive solutions with all the strategies at his disposal, even including a friendly pirate!
The story makes a villain of the Doge Lorenzo Celsi – since he may have really been blameless, this is somewhat unfair from a historical perspective. But the author quite cleverly ends the novel with the victors wiping out his villainy from the pages of history. The style of the book perhaps intentionally harks back to the swashbucklers of yesteryear: Sabatini in particular comes to mind as the story progresses. The plotting is masterful with unrequited love, a poisoning, fraternal jealousy, two battles at sea, several more on land, and sword fights, all sequenced to build up to the climax.
Petrarch makes a guest appearance, and I wish he could have had more screen time. Some characters are well-developed, notably one of the hero’s sisters, but several could have been developed further. However, the larger-than-life hero and the fast-moving plot makes this book a solid page-turner and a good weekend read.
