Kristin Gleeson on Dorothy Dunnett
Kristin Gleeson, author of the Renaissance Sojourner series
It was the cover of Niccolò Rising that caught my husband’s attention and convinced him it was the perfect book for me when he saw it in a bookstore in America, where we lived. He was right. I read it in just over one sitting. From there it became an anxious and heavily monitored wait until each book in the series came out, sometimes commissioning my husband to buy it in England when he visited his family, because it came out in the UK first. I purchased all of the Lymond novels as well and consumed them quickly, loving Lymond’s character and pathos. I then read Dunnett’s standalone novels and continued to admire the qualities present in all her works that, besides the depth of all her characters, there are also the massive historical knowledge, the wit and the absolute vast geographical scope of her series. I was so smitten with her books that I convinced my European history professor in my graduate program, a person who rarely delved into fiction, to try her. I recommended her to colleagues at work who, like me, were in the history profession, and they also became addicted. Soon, it became my secret marker for real simpatico book buddies of historical fiction. A test. A measure of their passion about history, especially if it was European history. If they hadn’t read her, or worse, didn’t like her, then I knew that my tastes and understanding were too far off from that person and it was best to keep it casual.
When I started writing my own historical novels it became inevitable that she would influence my writing, at first in the dedication to historical accuracy but also the geographical variety. When I started, my second series, The Renaissance Sojourner series my character just begged to have the adventures of a Niccolò or a Lymond. I couldn’t say no and attempted to cover the geographical vastness of Niccolò and Lymond books to take my character, Barnabas (also posing as Giacomo), from England, to Paris, to Venice, to Turkey, and eventually, to the heart of Africa and later, the Silk Route, always in danger, pursuing first vengeance, and with vengeance satisfied, pursuing a child. As his journey progressed his character changes, like Niccolò and Lymond, to shape him into a man who understands there is more to life than the pursuit of adventure, knowledge and vengeance. Within these novels I attempted to create the wit and clever plot twists I would find in all the Dorothy Dunnett novels.
There are several writers who have influenced my writing and who I cite as authors I admire and they come and go on my list, but Dorothy Dunnett is always on there. With such a long and stellar writing career, now sadly ended, I have no doubt she will always remain one of my top favourite novelists.
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