Three young men floating down a canal inside a bathtub being delivered to a Duke in Bruges. Action and hilarity ensue but this chapter is key--don't read it lightly. I read it twice in a row. The chapter has layers and kicks off the events not only in this book but in the entire series. This is my second time through this series--it was a delight the first time when I had the pleasure of reading it through with several co-workers--we had a lot of fun at lunchtime discussing the antics of Nicholas de Fleury and company. And it was a delight this time. Dorothy Dunnett is for people who love dense historical fiction (I know this because there is a Dorothy Dunnett society and a Wiki)--she mixes in real events with fictional characters in 15th century Europe and there is always a surprise waiting around the page for you the reader and the characters in her books.

Please, oh please, someone adapt this into a series for HBO, Showtime or Netflix. ( )

Enjoyed the first few titles the most, but they got too dark and depressing later on.
Brilliant, of course, in both research and writing. ( )

It's taken a good long while for me to read Dorothy Dunnett's classic work of historical fiction, and I must confess that what with the bushfire catastrophe absorbing most of my attention, Niccolò Rising hasn't had my full concentration. That's no fault of the author: it's a fine novel, and I can see why there are legions of Dorothy Dunnett fans. It's just... well, all Australians understand about the anxiety that has commandeered our thoughts...

Niccolò Rising is the first novel in the series. The House of Niccolò was written over a 14 year period and consists of

1. Niccolò Rising, (1986) set in 15th century Europe and introducing the hero of the series


2. The Spring of the Lamb (1987)


3. Race of Scorpions (1989)


4. Scales of Gold (1991)


5. The Unicorn Hunt (1993)


6. To Lie with Lions (1995)


7. Caprice and Rondo (1997)


8. Gemini (2000)

I was only half way through the book when I wanted to know more about Dunnett (1923-2001), but Wikipedia wasn't very forthcoming about aspects of the novel that interest me: the themes of transcending the restrictions of class and gender. However, a talk reproduced at the Dorothy Dunnett website was more illuminating...

The series arose after the success of The Lymond Chronicles (1961-1975) and was inspired by Britain's swing to the Right under Margaret Thatcher and the rise of yuppies and city wheeler-dealers. (We remember these people well in Australia, Alan Bond et al.) Dunnett had a background in business and trade working in the Board of Trade when Scotland's economy was recovering in the postwar period. She understood how business worked, and as the website says:

... Dorothy looked at a time period a century earlier than Lymond, when the Renaissance was just beginning to affect Europe and the newly developed Double entry book-keeping systems using the quite recently imported Arabic number system* were revolutionising commerce and trade. Banking in particular was becoming an important aspect of business.

She wanted to explore these developments and look at how for the first time it was possible for someone with the right skills to move up from a lowly position in society to a position of power – just as was apparently happening in the London financial markets of the 1980.

*There's a witty mention of this when Roman Numerals are noted as much more difficult to fiddle with than their Arabic replacements.

If not for the blurb, one might read for quite a while without the book's hero being revealed. Even so, it comes as a surprise...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/01/09/niccolo-rising-the-house-of-niccolo-1-by-dor... ( )

First book in the series. It's alot of detail to set you for the rest of the series. I am currently re-reading the entire series. The last 1/4 of th ebook starts getting into the character to get you into them. ( )

First book in the series. It's alot of detail to set you for the rest of the series. I am currently re-reading the entire series. The last 1/4 of th ebook starts getting into the character to get you into them. ( )