L'Alambicco Letterario

I Medici, decadenza di una famiglia Matteo Strukul Storyline Seventeenth-century Paris is the essence of vice and violence. Maria de' Medici, recently married to Henry IV of Bourbon, soon finds herself contending with the rapacious ambitions of Henriette d'Entragues. Henry himself has promised his favorite, in a written document, that he would marry her, and now that paper is the weapon with which she blackmails him. But it's not the only threat: another comes from a group of nobles conspiring to overthrow the throne. Sensing that her and the king's fates are becoming increasingly precarious, Maria decides to rely on Mathieu Laforge, a highly skilled spy and assassin capable of thwarting more than one plot. However, the queen does not yet know that her destiny will be marked by the constant struggle against those who seek the end of her reign. When Henry IV of Bourbon dies, a victim of yet another conspiracy, the unstoppable rise of a star of first magnitude in French p...

I Medici, Legacy Matteo Strukul Storyline Fontainebleau, 1536. Francis II, Dauphin and heir to the French throne, is dead. Poisoned. And the royal court believe Catherine de' Medici to be the murderer. Catherine's husband Henry will now be the next King of France – and the Medici are known to stop at nothing in the pursuit of power. But not yet queen and without an heir of her own, seventeen-year-old Catherine cannot be sure of securing her family's legacy. To ensure the conception of an heir, she will need to seek help from an unexpected ally: Nostradamus, the reclusive astronomer and purported seer. Dismissed by most as a charlatan and a heretic, Catherine knows he will be her only hope in becoming a mother to the future king. Amid court intrigues, betrayals, and humiliations, Catherine waits. She awaits the death of her father-in-law, King Francis, and the birth of a son to carry her name. For once she is queen, Catherine de' Medici's power will only grow. Review...

I Medici, Supremacy Matteo Strukul Storyline The second instalment in a prize-winning series charting the rise of the House of Medici as they become Masters of Florence and progenitors of the Renaissance. Lorenzo de' Medici is to be wed. The marriage will cement a powerful alliance for his family. But his heart belongs to another. Torn between love and power, he has become complacent. He has forgotten the bloody path he forged on his ascent to power, and the enemies left in his wake. When the family's historical enemies and shadowy new conspirators put their bloody plot into action, the consequences will be terrible. In order to protect their supremacy, the Medici will enact a violent vengeance from which few will be spared. Review In this second chapter of the "Medici" saga, Matteo Strukul shifts the focus to Cosimo de’ Medici's grandson: Lorenzo the Magnificent. Set between 1469 and 1479, the main events revolve around three pivotal occurrences: the rebellion of...

I Medici, Ascendancy Matteo Strukul Storyline Giovanni de' Medici is dead. A lifetime of shrewd investment, strategic alliance and sly manipulation saw Giovanni climb from mere money-lender to the top echelon of Florentine society. But success has left a slew of bitter enemies in his wake - and there are whispers his untimely demise wasn't accidental. Florence is a nest of vipers, and with the Medici family's wealth in the hands of Giovanni's untested sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, there are those who feel that now is the time to strike, to destroy the upstarts and seize their holdings. Review “Medici: Ascendancy” marks the beginning of a saga that introduced me to the writing of Matteo Strukul and made me fall in love with his work. This book takes off quickly, thanks to a smoothly flowing plot and the author's extraordinary ability to make us feel like privileged spectators, a distinctive trait of all his works that I deeply appreciate. The characters are beautifully c...

The Borgia Bride Jeanne Kalogridis Storyline It is Italy in 1492, and pope Alexander VI murders, bribes and betrays to establish his dynasty. So begins the Borgia reign of terror. Rome is a hotbed of accusation and conspiracy and every day, the River Tiber is full of new bodies. Debauchery and every lust is indulged within the Borgia inner-circle and every indisceretion is overlooked. Lucrezia Borgia develops a friendship with Sancha de Aragon daughter of King Alfonso II of Naples and this friendship strengthens when Lucrezia marries Sancha's brother. When Sancha falls in love with Lucrezia's brother she disovers just how bizarre and internecine the family's true ties are.... Review In her captivating book, "the Borgia Bride," Jeanne Kalogridis takes readers on a journey through the intricate and surprising adventures of the infamous Borgia family. The narrative unfolds in the period immediately following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, known as Lorenzo the M...

  Paolo and Francesca Matteo Strukul Storyline Two young people discovering love. A destiny overwhelmed by history. A passion that became legend. Among the towers and castles of medieval Italy unfolds one of the greatest love stories of all time, that of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini. Francesca loves books and the adventures of wizards and knights; she dreams of a Lancelot who will make her heart race. However, her fate holds an arranged marriage with the crude Giovanni Malatesta, a ruthless warrior and bloodthirsty conqueror. Her destiny seems already written, at least until Francesca meets Paolo, Giovanni's brother who has come to marry her by proxy. In the moment they exchange their first glance, the two in-laws are already lost, condemned to burn with a feeling impossible to fully live, yet too painful to repress. Their passion, immortalized by Dante Alighieri in the fifth canto of the Inferno, comes alive again in the pages of this novel, along with the splendor of I...

   The Lost Army Valerio Massimo Manfredi Storyline In the 4th century BC, in a village in Syria, a woman, dressed in rags and covered in blisters and sores, is seen approaching on the road coming from the north. Suspicious of her, the villagers shout and throw rocks at her. She is struck and falls. She seems dead...Her story encompasses one of the great collective acts of heroism of the ancient world. She was the mistress of Xenophon, a general in the vast army of ten thousand Greek mercenaries from virtually every Greek city state that was employed by Cyrus the Younger, in his quest to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Manfredi, one of the world's experts, has created a rip-roaring adventure seen from the perspective of the women who accompanied the soldiers on their long journey. This is a new and intense account of the most celebrated march in man's history, by the acclaimed author of the "Alexander" trilogy. Review It's essential for...