Niccolò Rising - Dorothy Dunnett

 Constance at Staircase Wit mentioned Niccolò Rising, by Dorothy Dunnett, as a potential summer read, and that reminded me that it was on my own TBR shelf so I decided that it would be my first big book of the summer, clocking in at 470 pages.. 

Book one in a trilogy, it is set in 1460 in Bruges, with forays into Geneva, Milan, and the Abruzzi region of the Italian peninsula. I confess that I struggled through the first 60 or so pages--there are a lot of characters, from all over Medieval Europe, and it took me awhile to even figure out who the main character was and whose story was being told.

Part of the confusion lay in the fact that the main character, Niccolò of the title, was called Claes and then occasionally Nicholas, and very rarely Niccolò. 

Claes is a distant poor relation of the widowed owner of a textile company in Bruges and works in the dye shop (yes, he works with the urine used to set the dyes). He is a clown and comic--hanging out with the son of the widow and other members of the firm--playing pranks, getting into outrageous mischief, and being beaten regularly for his antics.

But there is so much more to Claes. He is a charmer with a winning smile framed by adorable dimples, he is big and strong, quick and energetic, both mentally and physically. He is basically a savant when it comes to business--able to see the big picture, able to grasp how obstacles can be manipulated into opportunities, able to rapidly do the math and make canny speculations. Despite his seeming gregariousness, he can keep his own counsel as well as the secrets of others, which turns out to be a very profitable activity. And he is, apparently, phenomenal in bed. Women adore him.

I am hard pressed to come up with a similar character in literature. Dare I say that he is unique? Part Machiavelli, part Harpo Marx, part Warren Buffet, Claes who becomes Nicholas (his given name, Claes was a nickname) as his fortunes rise gives the reader a rollicking good time.

I won't give you any spoilers, but suffice it to say that he survives an avalanche (which he may or may not have triggered on purpose), several assassination attempts including a harrowing experience in a wine cask in a canal which is on fire, and an absolutely hilarious ride on the back of a hairless ostrich...but you have to read to almost the end of the book to reach this scene.

Final note: Nicholas could have coined the phrase, "revenge is a dish best served cold." It isn't until near the end of the book that it is revealed that Nicholas has been playing the long game...in fact, a very long game.

Now, I need to get and read book two in the series, The Spring of the Ram.

As I said at the beginning, this is the first book for the Big Book Summer Challenge, 2025.