In The Company Of The Courtesan - Sarah Dunant

When Rome is invaded in 1527 by a pillaging army of Spanish and German Lutheran troops, the high life is over for Fiammetta Bianchini, a beautiful, young, high ranking courtesan who could count Vatican Cardinals among her select clientele. Shorn of her hair and her riches looted bar a few gems she has managed to swallow, she escapes with Bucino, a dwarf in her employ, and together they travel to Venice, hoping to make their fortunes again.

Once in Venice, and with the aid of a local witch La Draga to help her recover the charms she has lost on their long journey. Fiammetta hopes to build up a new client base in Venice, but apart from the fact that her looks have lost their lustre, there are other obstacles that prevent her from establishing herself as a new courtesan, not least the appearance in the city of the Roman poet Aretino, an old acquaintance and rival who could destroy her reputation with a stroke of his pen. Aretino however has a reputation to keep himself and Fiammetta and Bucino have in their possession a reminder of his wilder, bawdier past, so it is in all their interests to work together.

And where else but the city of Venice for all this to take place? Apart from the opening sacking of Rome, the historical events of the time have less of a momentous impact on the characters than the period of Dunant’s previous novel, The Birth of Venus – but as the great city of commerce during the height of its power and influence, it’s the perfect location where the courtesan’s business of sex is just another trade where clients are selected for their influence and mutual favours can be gained. Dunant writes well here, with the same easy readability and unostentatious sense of the period that made her Renaissance Florence setting of The Birth of Venus such a delight. Blended into the story here are historical characters such as Titian and Aretino and fine details and information on the period, such as how the courtesans would attract clients at church and the reason why the convents were so full of the daughters of nobles in those days (to cut down on the number of expensive dowries and divisions of estates that would result from a marriage). All these kinds of details are relevant to the subject and not just thrown in for colour or to show off the amount of research done.

While there was no doubting the authenticity and accuracy of the historical period that was subtly woven into The Birth of Venus, the rather modern and enlightened thinking of the characters was perhaps add odds with the attitudes of the times. That isn’t such an issue here as the subject of In The Company of the Courtesan is the timeless cut and thrust of sexual politics - Fiammetta belonging to the oldest profession and relying on the same charms, ruses and attractions that are little different today. Inevitably dealing with such a subject, In The Company of the Courtesan in places recalls Les Liaisons Dangeureuses - perhaps the definitive (if affairs of the heart can ever be described definitively) work on the powers of love and seduction - particularly when the practiced courtesan forgets the number one rule, which is to never fall in love with a client. These elements however take less prominence than one would expect.

The real key to the book being so enjoyable is through the sympathetic charm, intelligence and wit of its narrator - the dwarf Bucino. His small stature gives us, quite literally, a unique perspective as an outsider on the grandeur of Rome and Venice, as well as his view of his Lady’s affairs, which is not quite as dispassionate as he would like it to be. And it’s same inability to remain impassive while looking in on the riches and beauty as well as the brutality and corruption of 16th Century Venice that draws the reader into the book and keeps them involved through to the last page.