Exclusive interview with author Marina Fiorato and a review of her novel about fighting the plague in sixteenth century Venice
Rating: Three Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“The whole book was inspired by Palladio’s church of the Redentore, which was built in Venice to thank God for saving the city from the plague,” says The Venetian Bargain author Marina Fiorato. “I hadn’t realized that there had been such a massive outbreak in Venice in the sixteenth century. I knew about the plagues in Europe in 1348 and 1666 but did not know that Venice had been so badly hit between those times. Once I had Palladio and his church as the ‘stone spine’ of the book, I hit on the idea of having the two doctors, one eastern and one western, one male and one female, fighting the plague too in their very different ways.”
The book opens in 1576, five years after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto, as a ship slips unnoticed into Venice. A very ill man staggers off the ship more dead than alive. This deadly gift from the Turkish Sultan carries the bubonic plague. Feyra is fleeing Constantinople to avoid becoming a concubine of the Sultan. She becomes very ill and barely manages to stay alive on the voyage. The Doge, concerned about the people of Venice, commissions architect Andrea Palladio to build a church to save Venetians from the plague. Palladio falls ill. Feyra becomes a member of Palladio’s household and under his protection, but can she save him?
“I was allowed access to the plague island in Venice, the Lazzaretto Novo, a truly evocative place,” says Fiorato. “The inside of the hospital is covered with amazing and detailed artwork drawn by the plague victims. It’s as if these men and women thought they would never see home again, so they drew and wrote about things that meant something to them. They created their own vistas, as they had no view from the hospital. It’s very moving, but strangely hopeful and peaceful.”
“I had a wonderful time researching this book, because as well as the plague island of Venice I got to go to Istanbul and visit the harems of the Topkapi palace. The harems had a remarkable, all female society, presided over by the Sultana. A strange dichotomy existed. Although the women could be seen as subjugated prisoners, they were also emancipated, because the absence of men meant that they had a certain amount of freedom to embrace masculine roles. For example, there were women there who were well practiced in medicine. One of these women, a harem doctor called Feyra, became my heroine.”
In a tiny museum in what used to be the plague hospital on the Lazzaretto Novo, Fiorato discovered some very interesting artifacts. “I was able to view some primary documents, such as letters from Venice’s council of health. The paper was very sepia colored, with white bars cutting across the text. I asked what the markings were and was told that all the mail was smoked using tongs before it was allowed to enter the city. So many methods of dealing with the pestilence were quite sophisticated, but others, such as wearing a dead frog about your neck, were very primitive.”
The Venetian Bargain is Fiorato’s fifth book. Her other works are The Glassblower of Murano, The Madonna of the Almonds, The Botticelli Secret and Daughter of Siena. Since The Venetian Bargain she has written a sixth book, Beatrice and Benedick, a prequel to Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing.
The Venetian bargain has been optioned by a Hollywood producer and The Glassblower of Murano is to become a feature film. The Botticelli Secret has been optioned as a TV series. Currently Fiorato is working on a story about the war of the Spanish succession.
Fiorato was born in Manchester and lives in London.
The Venetian Bargain by Marina Fiorato Trade Paperback, 416 pages, Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin; Reprint edition (April 8, 2014) Language: English, ISBN-13: 978-1250042958 $15.99
[adrotate group=”8″]
