David Hewson is the author of the Nic Costa series of novels set primarily in contemporary Rome. A former journalist with the London Times and Sunday Times, his work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Thai ... and Italian.The latest novel in the series is The Fallen Angel.
Not so long ago I asked Hewson what he was reading. His reply:
I probably read more non-fiction than fiction these days, often works that are connected with something I'm writing. I'm currently deeply into a series of books about Florence, the current one being Scourge and Fire by Lauro Martines. This is about an extraordinary monk from Ferrara, Girolamo Savonarola, who rose to become a kind ofLearn more about the author and his work at David Hewson's website and blog.ruler in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century, largely through his amazing, apocalyptic preaching skills. Savonarola was responsible for a clean-up of Florence's louche reputation -- or at least an attempted clean-up. The original bonfire of the vanities, in which precious objects were burned, was his idea. Supposedly Botticelli threw some of his own works into that fire. A few years later Savonarola was hanged and burned on the same spot as his vanities when the political wind, and the Borgio pope in particular, blew against him. He's often portrayed as a religious fanatic. Martines takes a broader view at a man who was, in some ways, a forerunner of Luther, trying to demand an end to the corruption of the Catholic Church.
The book (or more accurately books -- this will take more than one to explore) I'm planning are about power, corruption and the functioning of the state, as well as a few crimes along the way. This is a book that gives me a lot to think about on all those subjects.
The Page 69 Test: The Seventh Sacrament.
The Page 99 Test: The Garden of Evil.
My Book, The Movie: Dante's Numbers.
The Page 69 Test: City of Fear.
The Page 69 Test: The Fallen Angel.
--Marshal Zeringue
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