Noel Malcom, 2015
(November 2017)
A fascinating book. Takes as its premise the
interconnected stores of a family of minor Albanian nobility, and follows them
through their various trials and tribulations in Venice, the Balkans, and
Istanbul in the late 1500s. Slightly ponderous writing, but not overbearingly
so, and every so often contains gems such as this: "…the chronicler Ureche
would have nothing good to say about Aron. His main passions, allegedly, were
'pillage, debauchery, gambling and bagpipe-players.'" Thorough, enlightening,
and on occasion surprisingly funny.
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