Exclusive interview with author C. W. Gortner and a review of his new historical novel about Lucrezia Borgia
Rating: three stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“It wasn’t until I took a trip to Rome about fifteen years ago, and visited the Borgia apartments, that I was suddenly inspired to write about them,” says Vatican Princess author C. W. Gortner. “The apartments are magnificent, full of pagan motifs that exalt the Borgias’ non-conformity. It was evident they were different from other Renaissance dynasties. I realized that here was a family of Spanish descent, I am half Spanish by birth, who had succeeded in gaining the papacy, yet whose ill-repute made them notorious. The first Mafia family, in truth.”
Gortner weaves a history that captivates the imagination with the drama and emotions of the time. Gortner’s story of the Borgias and their dysfunctional family is told from Lucrezia’s point of view of her life, starting with her father becoming Pope. When Rodrigo Borgia becomes Pope Alexander VI his children Juan, Cesar and Lucrezia are used by their father to advance his ambitions. Lucrezia becomes a pawn in her father’s and brothers’ intrigues. Thanks to her family, those who love Lucrezia in the book cannot expect their lives to end well.
“Lucrezia, the adored daughter, has become a byword for everything heinous about them, even though she was nothing like what history reports,” Gortner. “I thought her so-called Vatican years, when she’s thrust into notice as the pope’s daughter while still in her teens, growing into womanhood beset by calumny, was a perfect character to explore. I just needed a fresh angle, as the Borgias have been so widely covered. I researched on and off for several years until I found the story I wanted to tell.”
Gortner says the research was quite challenging. “The Borgias have left very little of themselves behind. What went on behind their closed doors remains a mystery, which fuels speculation. With the Borgias, there are inevitably more questions than answers. As an historical novelist, I don’t have the luxury of saying I don’t know something. Based on what I could learn of the events and personalities, coupled with who I believed Lucrezia was, I had to reach certain conclusions on my own. We crave facts as historical novelists. With the Borgias, facts are only a fragment of their picture. Every author who approaches them gives them his or her own particular stamp.”
During his research, Gortner was reminded what a dangerous era the Renaissance was. “We forget how commonplace violence was. In the era of the Borgias, Rome was considered one of the most dangerous cities in Christendom. The ratio of criminals to citizens was overwhelmingly in the criminals’ favor. No one had any concept of human rights. Rape was so dreaded, women rarely went out at night unless they were prostitutes. Annual unsolved murders were in the thousands. You literally took your life in your hands if you went abroad at night without a bodyguard.”
As research, Gortner read a bibliography that exceeded a hundred volumes, made trips to Rome, visited the Vatican Archives that contain several documents pertaining to the Borgias, including the controversial papal bulls of Pope Alexander. He met with a Borgia scholar to discuss his theories. “This book took me on all sorts of strange adventures,” says Gortner. “The challenge was to avoid unnecessary tangents. Historical novels should wear their research lightly, to propel the narrative and the characters. In the end, I write fictionalized interpretations of historical figures, and emotion is key for fiction.”
The Vatican Princess is Gortner’s eighth historical novel. Previous books include The Last Queen, about Juana la Loca of Spain, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, The Queen’s Vow, about Juana’s mother, Queen Isabella of Castile, and Mademoiselle Chanel, about the fashion designer, Coco Chanel. He also wrote the Elizabeth I Spymaster trilogy, about a fictional young man with a secret link to the Tudors who becomes Elizabeth Tudor’s private spy.
Gortner’s first novel, The Last Queen, was recently optioned for a television mini-series. His next book is Marlene, a novel about Marlene Dietrich to be published on May 24th. He’s currently writing a novel about the last Romanovs.
Gortner is based in San Francisco, California. He was born in Washington D.C., raised in southern Spain. His mother is Spanish.
The Vatican Princess: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia, by C. W. Gortner. Hardcover: 400 pages. Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 9, 2016). Language: English. ISBN:9780345533975 $28.00
