The Knight of the Lily

Good research for a historical novel set in Florence in the thirteenth century, torn by internal struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines and wars with neighboring cities.

Good job search, I said, for a story that is a hybrid of news and fiction.

Hybrid, because at times the exposure of city events "engulfs" anything, even the characters that disappear in the list of what is happening in Florence.

But the report lacks objectivity, given that the author was to make it a novel starring Farinata degli Uberti.

This is, but emerges as a man, only as a hero and a lover of his country. Other characters, including grandfather Schiatta and even Guelph Ranieri Zingane, seem to have more facets than Farinata and his brother Blacks.

I found it so very difficult to read, not so much for the style, but precisely for the choice of narrative a bit '"cold", inconspicuous.

I would have preferred a story more "personal", not lost in the folds of history, in the sense that those events, so well researched, could be exposed, and then experienced by the reader, through the "eyes" of the protagonist.

I do not mean a novel in the first person, but a narrative capable, by emotions, feelings and hardships (not a mere historical chronicle events) to make known the character, understand and perhaps love him.

The search is important, I would say vital in a historical novel, but there where it does not come (how could?), You can think of the possible.

It is the author's imagination and creativity to fill in the holes, in practice to make the rest.

"The Knight of the Lily", the mio parere, strands on the historical record and there remains, giving little respite to the fictional narrative and the reader, who longs only to "cheer" and understand, identifying with the protagonist.

Maria Stella Bruno

http://mstellabruno.wordpress.com/

By the number 38 – The Year of 05/11/2014

The Knight of the Lily
Author: Carla Maria Russo
Publisher: Piemme Publisher
Genus: Historical novel
Price: Papery: 10,50 – Ebook: 6,99