The first in the new Friday series, Rediscovering Gems, is the Lymond Chronicles. This is a series of books written by Dorothy Dunnett that follows Francis Crawford of Lymond in his adventures in 16th Century Europe and the Mediterranean. There are six books in the series: The Game of Kings, Queens's Play, Disorderly Knights, Pawn in Frankencense, The Ringed Castle and Checkmate. Clearly all use the imagery of chess and Lymond is a charismatic figure who is a patriot, a soldier of fortune, a poet and troubled man.
Dunnett is a superb author and she handles the sweeping history of the Lymond Chronicles with ease. Clearly the books are lovingly and exhaustively researched but the reader is in the hands of a wonderful storyteller so the history comes through as part of the story not like a lesson.
There are several reading guides available for this book including this site put together by Random House that includes images of all of the books, a history and reader's guide to the books.
Wikipedia has a terrific entry on the Lymond books which includes major characters, both historical and fictional, and a synopsis of each book.
Dunnett wrote another series, The House of Niccolo, that has a linkage to the Lymond Chronicles. A link to the family tree of the House of Niccolo is available through the Wikipedia link above. However, if you have not read the House of Niccolo you may find that the family trees gives away an important revelation in the final Niccolo book (I have not finished the Niccolo books so I have not yet checked out the family tree because I do not want the surprise to be spoiled.)
Who would like this gem: People who love history would love these books and the success of the Patrick O"Brian books and the rediscovery of the Horatio Hornblower books show that there is a readership who enjoy books that combine history with a sweeping story. And, Lymond is a wonderfully romantic creation and these books will appeal to those readers who enjoy a romantic figure at the heart of the story.
1 comment:
Like you, I love the "Lymond Chronicles". I have also listened to several of the books as Audio books. The first book, Game of Kings, can be a bit "slow going", and it really helps get you through the slow parts. Currently, only the 1st 3 books are offered on CD (Recorded Books) and when I e-mailed them they were not encouraging that they would be offering the remaining books (a tragedy). I would love to see broader exposure of this wonderful author. I also believe that this could be a wonderful PBS Masterpiece series-if done over several seasons-at least 4hours per book.
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