Lymond Chronicles
The manuscript for the first book in the
Lymond Chronicles,
The Game of Kings, was rejected by five British publishers before being published by US publisher Putnam in 1961. It was written in response to her husband's suggestion that she write something herself, when she complained of having run out of reading material.
The
Lymond Chronicles is a series of six novels, set in mid-sixteenth century Europe and the Mediterranean, which follows the life and career of a Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, from 1547 through 1558. The series is a suspenseful tale of adventure and romance, filled with action, intense drama, poetry, culture and high comedy. Meticulously researched, the series takes place in a wide variety of locations, including France, the Ottoman Empire, Malta, England, Scotland and Russia. In addition to a compelling cast of original characters, the novels feature many historical figures, often in important roles.
The volumes are as follows:
- The Game of Kings (1961)
- Queen's Play (1964)
- The Disorderly Knights (1966)
- Pawn in Frankincense (1969)
- The Ringed Castle (1971)
- Checkmate (1975)
The six volumes of the
Lymond Chronicles, set in the 16th century, are part of what Dunnett viewed as a larger fourteen-volume work, which includes the eight novels of
The House of Niccolò series, set in the 15th century.
The House of Niccolò, which was written after the
Lymond Chronicles, tells the tale of Lymond's ancestors in the previous century and includes allusions to events in the
Lymond Chronicles. Dunnett recommended that readers begin with the
Lymond Chronicles and then read
The House of Niccolò.
The House of Niccolò
The House of Niccolò is a series of eight historical novels set in the late-fifteenth century European Renaissance. The protagonist of the series is Nicholas de Fleury (Niccolò, Nicholas van der Poele, or Claes), a talented boy of uncertain birth who rises to the heights of European merchant banking and international political intrigue. The series shares most of the locations in Dunnett's earlier series, the
Lymond Chronicles, but it extends much further geographically to take in the important urban centres of Bruges, Venice, Florence, Geneva, and the Hanseatic League; Burgundy, Flanders, and Poland; Iceland; the Iberian Peninsula and Madeira; the Black Sea cities of Trebizond and Caffa; Persia; the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Rhodes; Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula; and West Africa and the city of Timbuktu.
The volumes are as follows:
- Niccolò Rising (1986)
- Spring of the Ram (1987)
- Race of Scorpions (1989)
- Scales of Gold (1991)
- The Unicorn Hunt (1993)
- To Lie with Lions (1995)
- Caprice and Rondo (1997)
- Gemini (2000)
As with the
Lymond Chronicles, the series features a number of historical persons, many as important characters. Both the historical and fictional characters are, however, taken from a wider variety of occupations and social classes than in the
Lymond Chronicles. There are significant differences in narrative approach and writing style between the series, reflecting in part the very different personal journey taken by the central character in each.
King Hereafter
King Hereafter (1982), her long novel set in Orkney and Scotland in the years just before the invasion of England by William the Conqueror, was in Dorothy Dunnett's eyes her masterpiece. It is about an Earl of Orkney uniting the people of Alba (Scotland) and becoming its King, and is based on the author's premise that the central character Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney and the historical Macbeth, Scottish King, were one and the same person.
The Dorothy Dunnett Companions
Dunnett helped in the compiling of the
The Dorothy Dunnett Companion (1994) and
The Dorothy Dunnett Companion II (2002), which were written by Elspeth Morrison. These books provide background information to historical characters and events featured in the
Lymond Chronicles and
The House of Niccolò, as well as explanations of classical allusions and literary and other quotations used in the two series, notes to sources of these citations, and many maps. The second volume, which was written after the Niccolò series was completed, also contains a bibliography of many of the hundreds of primary and secondary sources Dunnett used in her historical research. Dunnett contributed much more to the second volume than the first, directly authoring many of the entries.