Showing titles in Renaissance

England, 1613. At the dazzling but brutal court of King James I, politician and philosopher Francis Bacon, the cleverest person in England, the inventor of the modern world, has a fight to survive. A life-threatening alliance of his enemies has formed around the king's exquisite but noxious lover, Carr. Bacon, always the outsider and the plotter, goes to his friend, James' neglected queen, and together they come up with a plan.

In 1450 Christine de Pisan took up the pen to defend her maligned sex. Her book, The City of Ladies, was built around preserving women's reputations from the slights and misunderstandings of history. In it the author is visited by three spirits - Justice, Rectitude and Reason - who guide her in sifting through countless lives, in search of worthy citizens. Nearly 600 years later, the historian and novelist Lisa Hilton picks up the book and promptly falls asleep, only to be visited by three great women from history: Cleopatra, Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine the Great.

Cortesãs, nobres, artistas, padres e médicos, decadentes ou influentes, ninguém era poupado pela verve satírica de Molière, dramaturgo que Rubem Fonseca transforma em personagem neste romance. Autor de comédias clássicas como Escola de mulheres, Tartufo, D. Juan e O avarento, Molière morreu em 1673, logo após uma apresentação de O doente imaginário, sua última peça. A partir desse acontecimento real, Rubem Fonseca cria um personagem fictício, o marquês que escreve anonimamente O doente Molière.

1553: deeply divided England rejoices as the rightful heir, Mary Tudor, sweeps to power on a tide of populist goodwill. But the people should have been careful what they wished for: Mary's mission is to turn back time to an England of old. Within weeks there is widespread rebellion in favour of her heir, her half-sister, Princess Elizabeth, who is everything that Mary isn't. From now on, Elizabeth will have to use her considerable guile just to stay alive.

Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse.... Kateryn Parr, a 30-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father, who has buried four wives - King Henry VIII - commands her to marry him. Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted 16 months, the one before barely half a year.

When Katherine of Aragon is brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, the oldest princess, Margaret, takes her measure. With one look each knows the other for a rival, an ally, a pawn, destined - with Margaret's younger sister, Mary - to a sisterhood unique in all the world. The three sisters will become the queens of England, Scotland, and France.

Pensando al Rinascimento è probabile che vi vengano in mente lo splendore delle città, le opere sublimi, la magnificenza di signori e papi. Aprendo questo libro, mettete da parte ciò che sapete: verrete travolti dallo stupore. State per cominciare un viaggio nei meandri di un tempo imprevedibile, fatto di voli pindarici e cadute fragorose. Popolato di artisti strepitosi oggi dimenticati, contesse guerriere e frati ribelli. Al vostro fianco in questa avventura, ci saranno due giganti della storia dell'arte destinati a odiarsi per tutta la vita.

Charlie Jonquil siempre es un joven afable y educado, pero no cuando se topa con Artemisa Lancaster. Brillante en matemáticas, es sin embargo incapaz de resolver un problema: ¿cómo Artemisa puede ser tan encantadora y sacarlo de quicio a la vez? Cuando ambos coinciden en una fiesta en Londres, se nota que sienten un desdén mutuo. Pero un desafortunado incidente hará que deban enfrentarse a una disyuntiva: o se casan o pierden su reputación.

Winter, 1607. A man is struck down in the grounds of Battle Abbey, Sussex. Before dawn breaks, he is dead. Home to the Montagues, Battle has caught the paranoid eye of King James. The Catholic household is rumoured to shelter those loyal to the Pope, disguising them as servants within the abbey walls. And the last man sent to expose them was silenced before his report could reach London. Daniel Pursglove is summoned to infiltrate Battle and find proof of treachery. He soon discovers that nearly everyone at the abbey has something to hide.

Nel maggio del 1624 un uomo accompagna la figlia sulla spiaggia di Santa Severa, dove si è arenata una balena. Esiste anche ciò che è al di là del nostro orizzonte, è questo che il padre insegna a Plautilla. Una visione che contribuirà a fare di quella bambina un'artista, misteriosa pittrice e architettrice nel torbido splendore della Roma barocca.

Palermo 1632: Giulia is thirteen years old when she learns her mother Teofania's greatest secret. Her mother knows how to brew an undetectable lethal poison, which she uses to free the broken and abused women of Palermo. Now Teofania wants to pass her recipe on to her daughter, and Giulia soon learns that, in a time when women have no voice, justice is sometimes best served in a cup of wine. Rome, 1659: Years later, Giulia ends up alone and poor in Rome. Within the alleys and shadows of the Eternal City, she forms her own circle of female poisoners.

Montpellier in 1566 - only fools walk the streets at night unarmed while a profession of faith in the wrong company can lead to a knife in the back. Not even this proud city of philosophers is safe from the menaces that endanger the peace of France. The city militia are struggling to contend with the lawlessness and religious hatred that threaten to tear the whole country in two.

When impoverished watchmaker Caron invents a pioneering device that could revolutionise timekeeping, his fortunes begin to change. Marrying a young, upper-class widow, he takes on a new noble name - de Beaumarchais - and sets out to conquer Louis XV's court. But his attempts to rise through the ranks of Versailles society are blocked by royal clockmaker Lepaute - as well as courtly crushes, rumours of war and illicit printing.

Brianda de Lubich, única heredera del señor más importante del condado de Orrun, ve como el mundo a su alrededor se desmorona tras la muerte de su progenitor. En una tierra convulsionada por las guerras, en la que ella y otras 23 mujeres serán acusadas de brujería, solo podrá aferrarse a un hombre: aquel a quien juró amar más allá de la muerte.

In the wake of her father's death, Rose Newlin finds solace in her work as a book restorer. Then, one rainy Connecticut afternoon, a struggling painter appears at her door. William Lomazzo brings with him a 16th-century treatise on art, which Rose quickly identifies as a palimpsest: a document written over a hidden diary that had purposely been scraped away. Yet the restoration sparks an unforeseen challenge when William - a married man - and Rose experience an instant, unspoken attraction.

Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family - and is the most unhappy creature in the world. Anne Turner has wit and talent - but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution. When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked.

Le 22 juin 1627, François de Montmorency-Bouteville est décapité en place de Grève. Il laisse une jeune épouse de vingt ans, deux petites filles et un garçon à naître. La famille aurait sombré dans la misère si la princesse de Condé, leur cousine, ne se chargeait d'élever les enfants selon leur rang.

Thomasin Marwood is one of Queen Catherine's ladies-in-waiting at the court of Henry VIII, and she does not trust Lady Anne Boleyn. But when an accident forces Thomasin and her family to take refuge at the Boleyn family home at Hever Castle, Thomasin is entrusted with an unexpected mission by Anne's mother.

June 1589: Lord Sinclair, proud of his castle in Aberdeenshire, hosts the banquet to celebrate peace with England and the king's impending marriage. Celebrations have to be discreet, as the country is facing political and financial turmoil, but this won't be a quiet night's celebration for the king. It can't be, not for Lord Sinclair's sake.

It's 1679 and into the tumult, politics and colour of Restoration London and its lively theatre scene comes the fierce and opinionated Tribulation Johnson. Cast out from her family as ungodly and unworthy, Tribulation is determined to forge her own remarkable path. Arriving in London, Tribulation is astonished to discover that the widowed cousin she's been sent to live with is none other than the most infamous woman in London: the former spy and traitor's mistress, the playwright and polemical poetess, Aphra Behn.