Sarah Dunant

When Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy, he is defined not just by his wealth or his love for his illegitimate children, but by his blood: he is a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians. If the Borgias are to triumph, this charismatic politician with an appetite for life, women and power must use papacy and family to succeed.

It is 1502, and Rodrigo Borgia, a self-confessed womaniser and master of political corruption, is now on the papal throne as Alexander VI. His daughter Lucrezia, aged 22, already thrice married and a pawn in her father's plans, is discovering her own power. And then there is Cesare Borgia: brilliant, ruthless and increasingly unstable; it is his relationship with the diplomat Machiavelli which offers a master class on the dark arts of power and politics. What Machiavelli learns will go on to inform his great work of modern politics, The Prince. But while the pope rails against old age and his son's increasing maverick behavior, it is Lucrezia who will become the Borgia survivor, taking on her enemies and creating her own place in history.

Conjuring up the past in all its complexity, horror and pleasures, In the Name of the Family confirms Sarah Dunant's place as the leading novelist of the Renaissance and one of the most acclaimed historical fiction writers of our age.