GEMINI

The eighth and concluding volume in Dunnett’s House of Niccolò series (Caprice and Rondo, 1998, etc.), tracing the fortunes of the bright, troubled, ferociously resourceful (and uncannily lucky) merchant Nicholas de Fleury in 15th-century Europe, demonstrates once more the qualities that have made Dunnett’s long labor so distinctive. Nicholas, driven by a variety of furies only gradually revealed, is a believably complex and winning character, not without a lethal Machiavellian side but also possessed of a profound humanity and an unflagging sense of loyalty to those he loves. His friends and enemies have always been rendered with equal care and complexity. And the broad tapestry of courts and cities in this turbulent era has been captured with a vigorous, convincing sense of specifics. Nicholas has repeatedly, throughout his long rise to prominence as an international banker, been the intended victim of a variety of plots. This last installment features one more particularly nasty attempt to destroy him, which he manages to defeat—at a great cost. For those who have made the long journey with de Fleury, Dunnett provides a satisfying roundup of answers to persistent mysteries, and a climax that is both fitting and very moving.

An ambitious, deeply informed, and consistently gripping series, likely to be cited for some time to come as one of the most accomplished and imaginative modern works of historical fiction.