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Historical In the Company of Courtesan   by Sarah Dunant $23.95 / Random House/ 2006 The model for Titian’s great 16th-century portrait Venus of Urbino (the sensuous nude who reclines on crumpled sheet as she stares out self-confidently at the viewer) is the subject of Susan Dunant’s second historical novel In the Company of the Courtesan. Just as she did in her 2004 bestseller The Birth of Venus, Dunant provides a vivid picture of life in a renaissance capital; this time, Venice. However, Titian’s painting is almost a footnote in our heroine’s life in the flourishing canal city. The narrator is the down-to-earth, bawdy dwarf Bucino Teodoldo, who serves as the confident business partner (pimp) and unconventional friend of Fiammetta Bianchini, a gorgeous woman who lives lavishly at the expense of her male patrons. We first meet Bucino and Fiammetta in 1527 Rome, just as it is being sacked by Charles V. Bucino and Fiammetta lose almost everything, including Fiametta’s good looks, but are determined to regain their former social status. Venice—with its highlife, trade-rich travelers, and corrupt men of power—provide the setting for their calculated rebound. Here, the two encounter a cadre of interesting characters, including a mysterious Turk collecting curiosities for his Sultan, a wealthy merchant, and a blind woman skilled with potions and ointments who helps to restore Fiametta to her previous splendor. A few hidden jewels and a forbidden book add to the intrigue and push the plot along through unexpected obstacles and unpredictable outcomes. As fascinating and full-bodied as any of the characters is the city of Venice itself. Dunant paints a wonderfully multi-dimensional image of this renaissance lagoon, with all its parties, politics, and potential. Belying her occupation, Fiametta emerges as a strong-willed woman who is in control of her own destiny, despite circumstances and conditions that attempt to defeat her. Perhaps not quite as engaging in its storyline as Birth of Venus, In The Company of the Courtesan nevertheless captures the reader’s attention while adding to one’s appreciation of a fascinating time and place in history. — Barbara Rizza Mellin

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