Book
The Spring of the Ram
First published 1987
In 1461, Nicholas pursues Catherine de Charetty and the Genoese adventurer Pagano Doria from Florence towards Trebizond while also trying to establish a Black Sea trading venture. The Empire of Trebizond is wealthy but politically isolated, and Mehmed II’s Ottoman army is closing in. Nicholas must manage commercial rivalry, family danger and the collapse of the last major Byzantine successor state.
The expedition turns commerce into geopolitics. Trebizond sits between Genoese interests, Black Sea trade and Mehmed II's expanding Ottoman power, so Nicholas cannot separate profit from the fate of the state in which he is operating. His pursuit of Catherine and Doria is equally personal, making the collapse of an empire and the instability of his own household part of the same journey.
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