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A carregar... The Belt of Gold (1984)por Cecelia Holland
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Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Constantinople, AD 802! Is there any place and period in history Cecelia Holland can't write about with confident authority? Hagen, Frankish warrior on his way home from pilgrimage to Jerusalem becomes ensnared in a nasty little power-struggle between the Basileus Irene and pretender to the throne John Cerulis. A complex, poisonous affair it ensnares court and city officials, diplomats, spies, courtesans and competitors in the hugely popular chariot races. Hagen is just looking for revenge, but he doesn't know what to believe or who, if anyone to trust. There's some wonderfully manly stuff in this, between barbarian Hagen's fighting prowess, the single-minded charioteers, the hermit from the desert, the imperial treasurer, straining under the weight of empire, all men struggling in manly roles, yet all ruled by a woman. Holland excels at this. This was a great improvement on the previous two Holland novels I have read, City of God and Hammer for Princes, which were flat and dull. The characters are more interesting and colourful and the cultural contrast between the Frankish Hagen and the Byzantine court well drawn, though more could have been made on the Frankish side. The author has clearly researched well the background, which is not a common one for English language historical novels. Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, this (and the other novel of hers I like, Lords of Vaumartin) was commissioned by a publisher, not created from scratch by the author - counterintuitively, perhaps, these commissioned novels read better to me. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
In an exotic ancient land, a foreign stranger's sworn mission of vengeance leads him into the perilous circle of a ruthless Byzantine empress In the early years of the ninth century, the road home from Jerusalem winds through Constantinople for two Frankish noblemen-warriors. But when an encounter with a young woman running for her life results in the murder of Hagen the White's brother, he vows to find the perpetrators, no matter how highborn or powerful, and take his revenge. His hunt will carry him into the royal circle of the Basileus Irene, a ruthless despot who blinded her own son to force him off the throne. The beautiful and calculating empress is fascinated by this supposed barbarian who has sworn allegiance to the great Charlemagne, and she welcomes him into the imperial court--and into the dangerous fires of countless royal conspiracies. Suddenly Hagen must tread carefully through a vipers' nest of plots, lies, and bloodthirsty power plays, for if the stranger trusts the wrong serpent, he will certainly die. One of the world's premier purveyors of historical fiction, acclaimed novelist Cecelia Holland ushers the reader into a thrilling, exotic, and colorful world ruled by one of history's most complex and fascinating women. The Belt of Gold is a stunning tale of power and vengeance set against a breathtaking backdrop of Byzantine opulence, from the conspiracies of the empress's court and the intrigues of the bedchamber to the heart-racing clashes of champions in the public arenas where famed charioteers seek ultimate glory before the eyes of an adoring populace. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/05/31/the-belt-of-gold-cecelia-holland/ ( )