by Sarah Dunant
First published 2013
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia has purchased his way to the papal throne as Alexander VI, but his Spanish blood marks him as an outsider in Italian Rome. The new pope wields his illegitimate children like chess pieces in his quest for power. His son Cesare possesses brilliant tactical intelligence paired with ruthless ambition, making him both invaluable and dangerous. Twelve-year-old Lucrezia begins as an innocent pawn in her father's dynastic schemes. As the Borgia family claws its way to dominance in the corrupt landscape of fifteenth-century Italy, Cesare's cold calculations provide the muscle while Lucrezia endures three strategic marriages. The pope's insatiable appetites for women, wealth, and control drive the family forward, but Cesare's growing instability threatens everything. Lucrezia transforms from sheltered child to seasoned political operator, caught between her father's manipulations and her brother's increasingly erratic behavior. At the heart of this struggle lies a family bound together by blood, ambition, and the brutal realities of Renaissance power.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, political-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, political-intrigue, power-dynamics
Setting: Italy, Rome
Period: 15th-century
596 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: sexual-content, violence