Whispering Gallery, Issue 153

Who were the historical figures that inspired Dorothy Dunnett to create the characters that populate The House of Niccolò? We revisit the auction of Dunnett’s effects in 2002 and the discovery that revealed the 15th-century faces that piqued Dunnett’s interest as she began work on the novels.

A couple of issues ago the Talking Point question asked readers for their favourite examples of Dunnett’s prose that reads like poetry. A member adds her response to this question in a series of beautiful examples from King Hereafter and the Niccolò books. We walk through the highs – and lows – of Lymond’s relationship with Philippa, and we explore a vital scene in Checkmate from Marthe’s perspective as an initiate of the Bektashi Order.

Our series on medieval Christianity reaches the turn of the millennium, setting the scene for King Hereafter. We explore the covers created for the first editions of The House of Niccolò and we have the first part in a new series about the Dolly books that addresses a reader’s question: ‘What am I missing?’

Contents 

• The Chairman’s Column
• Trustees’ Notice Board
• Members’ Page
• ‘His Mother’s Quilt’
• ‘How do I love thee?’
• More Pollock than Mondrian: Christianity in the First Millennium, part 4
• Bektashi Ritual, Marthe and Lymond
• Wrapping Up Dunnett
• A Dunnett Lexicon
• A Magical Discovery
• My Story
• Coffers of Pearls – Hidden Poems in Dunnett
• Talking Point
• That’s Relevant!

Published December 2021