The Serpent and the Pearl: Borgias, Book 1

This is the story of the infamous Borgia family as told from the first person points of view of Giulia Farnese, the Pope’s mistress, and her cook Carmelina, and bodyguard Leonello. The addition of these latter two fictional characters was welcome, since without them it would have been a rather flat, one dimensional romance story. But Carmelina and Leonello’s stories give us a glimpse into the commoner’s world and allowed the author some more creative freedom. Meanwhile, Giulia’s point of view (and a little of Leonello’s and Carmelina’s too) gives us a window into the world of a very complex and fascinating family.At times, some of the characters seemed a little too modern but they were compelling characters who made their stories really come to life. The protagonists are flawed but likable and some of the characters continued to surprise me. I really enjoyed watching Giulia grow up and figure out what is important to her. I enjoyed waiting for the inevitable to happen when Carmelina’s past caught up with her. Though Leonello’s character did remind me of Tyrion, the author swears she had developed his character before she read Game of Thrones (and for those who haven’t read Game of Thrones, the character Tyrion is similar to Leonello). In a way, that is a testament to how good the characters in this novel are: great minds think alike, after all.Although the novel was written in first person multiple points of view, which I don’t normally love, I hardly even noticed it, perhaps because it was just so well written that it didn’t matter. I think what I enjoyed most about this novel, apart from the characters, was the attention to cultural detail, not only in the food descriptions (which have been praised enough in plenty of other reviews, so I won’t repeat them) but also with elements such as the mentions of different accents and dialects. It’s easy to think the book is set in Italy so the Italian characters would all have Italian accents - but with Quinn’s attention to detail, characters notice when another character has a Venetian accent instead of a Roman accent. It’s this kind of attention to detail that brings the setting to life and does it with ease; the descriptions are full and rich but you’ll never feel like they bog down the story. The plot certainly isn't neglected even amid all these rich descriptions and characters. While Giulia initially spends much of her time sitting around beautifying herself for her Pope in the beginning, we get to watch Carmelina come into her own in the kitchens, and Leonello attempts to investigate a serial killer. But Giulia is more than just a trophy mistress and she proves it in the second half.It ended on a cliffhanger though, so if you’re the type of person who hates that, this might not be for you. However, the second book is out now so if you’re happy to just immediately pick up the second book, the cliffhanger shouldn't be a problem. I bought the sequel literally the moment I finished this one, I am really looking forward to where the author takes the sequel.

I was so glad when I found out about this book since there are a lot of historical fiction books about England and France but not very many about other countries and the fact that I had always wanted to learn more about the Borgia family since studying the Roman history in school many years ago.Each chapter of this book has three parts describing events and people from the viewpoint of three different people: Guilia Farnese, Rodrigo Borgia's mistress, Carmelina Mangano, her cook, and Leonelle, her body guard. Initially very slow and with not much content, the book gets very interesting and suspenseful after the first hundred pages or so. Most of the people in the book appear one dimensional with the exception of Carmelina, supposed to be based on the author's husband's grandmother. There is not much of a story line in this book to cover almost four hundred pages but the book is so captivating and is so hard to put down because the story telling is priceless, vividly describing events and physical facts. After a while, one can't help but losing one's self in the story line and caring about the people in the book wondering what is coming next.I find this book very entertaining and interesting sprinkled with some historical facts. However, this is a romance novel about Guilia Farnese not about the Borgia family members who are mentioned in the book only when the story line relates to her. Two of the three narrators of the book, Carmelina and Leonelle, didn't exist but were created by the author who admits taking liberties with the historical facts. One of them being the main theme of the book: the love and passion shared by eighteen years old Guilia Farnese, and sixty two year old Rodrigo Borgia. By looking at the historical facts and the women's place in the society at the time, we can easily say this was not a relationship of equals but it was a corrupt, self-serving and ruthless person with unlimited power claiming whatever he felt like taking including a married eighteen year old girl from her husband with the purpose of being served and pleased. I have also found the language used in some parts of the book in bad taste like the parts when Carmelina threatens someone with cutting her thumbs off and goes on describing in detail how she would cook them with garlic and olive oil and make the person eat them. Another instance is doing the same thing with someone else's ears and then the part where she tells a cat how they drown cats in a cistern and how she would eat him after making a sausage out of it with fennel and pork fat going on and on. Yuck! If I wanted that kind of language, I would read horror books.If you like romance novels, this is a well-written one but what you want is to learn more about Rodrigo Borgia and his children, find another book.

I don't review books very much but I am in love with Kate's writing and this book blew my mind. There are three POV characters, which as everyone knows means that at least one's perspective will be overwritten and boring but for the first time in my life I was enthralled by them all. The character of Giulia takes the most beautiful woman in Rome and makes her a relatable and adorable viewpoint for the Borgia's and their machinations but in my view the real power comes from Leonello, a dwarf written very much in the style of Tyrion Lannister, whose bitterness and occasional compassionate insight make him a delight to read and Carmelina, who is one of the most wonderful female characters I have encountered in any book ever, with her independence but also total obsession with her craft, which means that for her the main events of the story are mostly told as asides that get in the way of her cooking. I cannot state with words how much I love this character - she feels real to me and resonates with me and while I sometimes can't manage to like her, somehow that just makes me respect her more. This is not a love story, or if it is, it is so confusingly written that I wouldn't have guessed the final pairings for the most part of the book. That is a good thing, because life is chaotic and confusing like that and this book is wonderful, with its twists and secrets and you can't tell who the heroes and the villains always are but they are portrayed skillfully, even secondary characters who often become far more significant later on than you would think when first encountering them. All I can say is read this book. I promise you won't regret it.

I was a bit cautious about this book before I started it - I have read too many so-called Historical novels that have been more akin to Mills and Boon. I need not have worried. The author uses three different viewpoints for the story, only one of which is from a real historical personage. The other two are fictional (I believe), but are thoroughly believable. The result is a cracking good novel set among some of the most dramatic events in Italian/Papal history, and told with a wry sense of humour which is really refreshing. There were a couple of places where the story slowed for me, but not many. My ideal score would be 4.5, and I will certainly be reading the sequal to this in the near future. If it is as good as this novel, I will be adding this author to my favourites.

This is a marvellous read, telling the story of the Borgias through the eyes of three characters: Giulia Farnese, Carmelina the cook and the dwarf Leonello. Each character's narrative is compelling, and written in a style that their own. I was engrossed from the first page, and sorry to reach the end of the book; looking forward to reading the sequel. I would heartily recommend any of Kate Quinn's books - she has done a great job with this one!

The best trilogy I have ever read

Possibly not the most historically accurate account, but a nice easy read with great character development