Pealing bells and sacred mystery incantations for Jo Graham’s historical fantasy The Borgia Dove which takes to the skies today like a flight of its namesakes!
The Borgia Dove is the second in the series Memoirs of the Borgia Sibyl after the acclaimed A Blackened Mirror. It follows the rise of Giulia Farnese, known to historians as a formidably learned and intelligent advisor to two Renaissance popes. But in Graham’s vision Giulia is also a seer, despite the dangers of such a talent in her era. Transposing the myth of Persephone and Hades onto the opulent Rome of the Borgias, Memoirs of the Borgia Sibyl is kin to Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel works and Guy Gavriel Kay’s imaginative transmutations. The mouth-watering synopsis of A Borgia Dove:
1492: Giulia Farnese is the mistress of the powerful Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia. Educated, brave and ambitious, Giulia revels in the art and ideas of the Renaissance and in her newfound influence as the consort of one of the leaders of the humanist movement within the Vatican. The gifts of prophecy and magic that made her a weapon against Rodrigo but allowed her to save his life are gone with her virginity—or so she thinks.
Now the pope is dying, plunging Rome into lawless chaos until a new pope can be elected. The most likely candidates want to purge Rome of heresy, endangering both Giulia’s friends and the fragile Renaissance itself. A dark horse candidate who most people underestimate to their peril, Rodrigo is ruthless and clever; but to seize the ultimate prize of the papacy, he’ll need all the help he can get. He relies on Giulia to be his eyes and ears in the world of powerful women and to negotiate on his behalf when the voting cardinals are locked in seclusion.
Drawn into a high-stakes game of bribery and bargains, Giulia discovers all too soon that losing means paying a deadly price. Her only hope of protecting those she cares about from Rodrigo’s enemies lies in mastering the magical gifts she once thought lost. For Giulia to claim the divine power of a pagan priestess may be the ultimate heresy—or a way to win her lover the papal crown.
Jo Graham is the author of thirty books and three online games. Best known for her historical fantasy novels Black Ships and Stealing Fire, and her tie-in novels for MGM’s popular Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: SG-1 series, she has been a Locus Award finalist, an Amazon Top Choice, a Spectrum Award finalist, a Manly Wade Wellman Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick in historical fiction and a Lambda Literary Award and Rainbow Award nominee for bisexual fiction. With Melissa Scott, she is the author of five books in the Order of the Air series, a historical fantasy series set in the 1920s and 30s. She is the author of The Calpurnian Wars space opera series and the historical fantasy series Memoirs of the Borgia Sibyl. She is also the author of three pagan spirituality books. She lives in North Carolina with her partner and is the mother of two daughters.
Like A Blackened Mirror, The Borgia Dove boasts a stunning cover by Alexael, and received ecstatic endorsements from, among others, genre legends Sherwood Smith and Melissa Scott. Excerpts (more on the title’s shop page):
Passion, intrigue, politics, and a papal election, all portrayed with Graham’s trademark historical flair . I was planning to read this one slowly to savor every beautifully-chosen detail, but ended up finishing it in two days-I couldn’t put it down. —Melissa Scott, legendary pioneering SFF author and winner of multiple genre awards
I relished every word of Borgia Dove. Jo Graham paints these larger-than-life characters in a gloriously dynamic mural with grace and wit. —Sherwood Smith (please check the wonderful long review in GoodReads)
The second novel in the Sybil series only cements the fact that [Jo Graham] is going to be a powerhouse in the world of historical fiction – and that will be a well deserved title. I just adore how Graham weaves words and creates these beautiful tapestries. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next novel… —Samantha Morris, Borgia scholar (full review)
The Borgia Dove is available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo – and of course on our website, where buying the lovingly prepared trade paperback also brings along the full digital bundle (PDF, Epub and Mobi). All C&G ebooks are DRM-free. The ongoing US Post Office upheaval has necessitated use of UPS for shipping, which in turn has unfortunately forced us to steeply raise shipping fees.
Come unfold the resplendent tarocchi deck of The Borgia Dove with us, and watch history (and history-making) from Giulia Farnese’s unique perspective!
