To Lie with Lions

Name: To Lie with Lions
Rating: 4.6 (457 reviews)

by Dorothy Dunnett Book 6 in the House of Niccolo series.

First published 1995

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4.5(457)

In 1471, Nicholas tries to repair his marriage to Gelis while using the House of Niccolo’s network to influence courts from Scotland and Burgundy to Iceland. A northern expedition promises new trade and technical achievement, but his public spectacles and financial manoeuvres conceal more dangerous political aims. Rival rulers and bankers begin to realise that Nicholas’s plans may threaten the balance of power they depend upon.

Nicholas’s ambitions stretch beyond one market or court. Finance, engineering and information allow him to influence rulers who believe they are using his services for their own purposes, while Gelis’s distrust ensures that his marriage cannot be separated from those schemes. The northern expedition tests whether Nicholas can continue treating private relationships with the same calculation he applies to commerce.