At the beginning of the 16th century a young Florentine diplomat, Niccolo Machiavelli, observes the rise to power of the Borgia family. Rodrigo Borgia, now Pope Alexander VI; his eldest son Cesare, once a cardinal but now head of the Pope's army; and Lucrezia, a pawn in the game of marriage, en route to her third husband in the north of Italy. Where others are frightened and disgusted, Machiavelli is fascinated. Yes he sees corruption, brutality and nepotism. But he also perceives a cunning intelligence in the pursuit and maintenance of power. Sarah Dunant is not alone in believing that perhaps history has cast the Borgias, particularly Lucrezia, in too dark a light. Her fictional account of the family is both engrossing and entertaining.
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