I’m doing a meme at LiveJournal, writing on specified topics each day this month. And for Day Four, the topic was “Your Favourite Book.”
Well. For Favourite Book, I both have no problem at all, and have a big problem. Because my favourite book is six books. And they really can’t be separated. I’ve mentioned them here before, but welcome the chance to sing the praises of Dorothy Dunnett’s Chronicles of Lymond at the top of my lungs once again.
I don’t think I’ve ever run into a more scintillating, fascinating, thrilling, amusing, maddening character than Francis Crawford of Lymond, in any book I’ve read, in all my life. He’s a young Scottish nobleman in the 16th century, and his long personal (and occasionally tragic) quest takes him from Scotland to France to Constantinople to Moscow and back to France and Scotland. So we see a great deal of the world of that century, meet Ivan the Terrible, get inside Sulieman the Magnificent’s harem (we do; Francis doesn’t!), and learn a lot about the cultures and the politics of the time.
Francis commands mercenaries, serves as a minstrel at the French court, serves temporarily as France’s Ambassador to Constantinople, rules the armies of Russia, fights with the Knights of Saint John of the Cross in Malta, routs an English troop trying to invade Scotland in the fog by fitting a herd of sheep with helmets (you had to be there) — all the while spouting poetry, Latin and French quotations, both bawdy and romantic songs, and the works of the great philosophers. He’s been a galley slave, and Henry VIII wanted to kill him.
Every time I read this series, I want to read poetry. I want to visit museums and gaze at paintings. I want to read the great histories.
Dorothy Dunnett makes you love Francis Crawford, but really, she makes every character who surrounds him utterly real and individual. I don’t think I’ve ever known another author who does that as well. Each person has his or her own distinct character, and definitely their own distinct quirks. There are moments in these books that are very, very funny. And then Ms. Dunnett turns around and makes you weep.
Francis’s story does get very sad at times. And the last half of the last book is so sad that you wonder how you can go on. But if I had to pick only one book out of the six as my favourite, it would be that one, because all the grief and sorrow is made up for in the final five or six pages, which are wonderful, glorious, almost elevating. I was once describing this series — without naming it — to a bunch of book people online, and I said, “Reading the last few pages, I felt like someone had taken off the top of my head and poured glory straight into it.” And one of the other book people said, “Are you talking about the Lymond Chronicles?”
She had read them, and she knew.
So if you like historical novels, and you love fascinating and intricate characters, and are ready for a complex plot and a lot of history (because it is all very complex, so you need to be ready) — run, don’t walk, and find the Lymond Chronicles.
These are the books:
1 – The Game of Kings
2 – Queen’s Play
3 - The Disorderly Knights
4 – Pawn in Frankincense
5 – The Ringed Castle
6 – Checkmate
I’m pretty sure you will not be disappointed. And if you love these, you’ll very likely love the eight-book series Dunnett did after the Lymond books, the House of Niccolo series.
I am so glad to find another person who loves the Lymond Chronicles. I first discovered them almost thirty years ago and familiarity has not staled the variety of discovery or the sheer delight in rereading her books. Lymond has to be the most charismatic character that exists on a page. Also his intelligence shines through, which shows the adroitness of the author. Other books that i have read might maintain that a character is brilliant, or a genius, or attractive – but Lymond (more so than Nicholas) actually is that. Dorothy Dunnett’s writing style is also to be admired, it is often poetic and her descriptions reveal that she was an artist as well as a writer.
If I had to chose one of her books for my desert island, then it would have to be King Hereafter. More difficult than the Lymond Chronicles or House of Niccolo, but complete in itself. Thorfinn and Groa are worth spending time with, and the whole story is so tragic and beautiful. She considered it her masterpiece and I have to agree.
Hee! And you’ve hit upon the only Dorothy Dunnett book that I seriously did not like.
But that’s just a difference in tastes.
And you’re right — Lymond is probably the most charismatic and brilliant character out there. (I admit I do love Nicholas, and I think he’s just as intelligent as his descendant, but not nearly as scintillating.)
I hadn’t thought of the tie-in between Ms. Dunnett’s painting and her writing, but that’s a great observation! No wonder she was so able to bring a scene to life, not just through the characters but through her visual descriptions. Thank you for mentioning that connection!
Oh, oh, oh! I *love* getting this much excited about a book. The series is SO on my reading list, heh. Thanks so much Phyl, for sharing the information and your enthusiasm!
p.s.: Historical novels rule! (Not as much as fantasy novels, but they get pretty close, lol.)
[...] AD) Thorfinn Karlsevni was exploring the east coast of Canada with two Scots amongst his crew. …Bookishgal: My favourite books the Lymond ChroniclesThorfinn and Groa are worth spending time with, and the whole story is so tragic and beautiful. She [...]
I am on the last book, and I am terrified by what is going to happen. A rare thing that I have become so enmeshed in a book. I started reading the House of Nicolo series, and then came to these afterward. I am not sure which I like more.
My observation has been that if someone comes to Lymond first, they have a slightly harder time getting fond of Niccolo. But when it’s the other way around, they are more able to embrace both. I’m a mixture, myself, because I had only read the first couple of Lymond books before I picked up my first couple of Niccolo books. But I still finished Lymond first, waiting as the rest of the Niccolo books came out. So my favourite will always be Francis.
I hope you’ll comment again once you’ve finished the last book! I’m biting my tongue, trying to make neither promises nor warnings!