{"product_id":"the-dorothy-dunnett-companion-isbn-9780375726682","title":"The Dorothy Dunnett Companion","description":"Dorothy Dunnett has earned worldwide acclaim for the masterful blending of historical   fact and imagination in her two series of novels set in brilliantly reconstructed   fifteenth- and sixteenth-century landscapes.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Dorothy Dunnett Companion II\u003c\/b\u003e is   an encyclopedic resource that completes and expands the reach of the first \u003ci\u003eCompanion\u003c\/i\u003e in documenting the historical and literary riches of Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles   and House of Niccolo novels. In this second guide\u003ci\u003e,\u003c\/i\u003e Elspeth Morrison not only covers   the final three Niccolo novels for the first time, but also provides a wealth of   additional information about all of the earlier novels and highlights the links between   the two now-completed series. Once again, she illuminates the real figures and events   and the cultural and literary allusions Dunnett weaves into her works, translating   foreign phrases and offering up fascinating background details, from the history   of golf and the argot of galley slaves to the uses of puffins and polar bears. Together   with the first \u003ci\u003eCompanion,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe Dorothy Dunnett Companion II\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eprovides a complete and   essential guide to the world of Lymond and Niccolo.\"[Dunnett's novels are] vivid, engaging, densely plotted . . . sustained by a riot of tangible detail that makes real the world she has conjured up. . . . Dunnett brings to bear her remarkable powers of description, giving us the 15th-century Mediterranean in animated miniature. . . . The effect is spectacular.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Dunnett is] the finest living writer of historical fiction.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003eElspeth Morrison and Dorothy Dunnett live in Edinburgh, Scotland.A\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA coat of arms . . . with a fish in it . . . and a tree and a ring? \u003c\/b\u003eLIONS, 22:  The reference is to the armorial bearings of the city of Glasgow, which famously incorporates an oak tree proper, the stem at the base surmounted by a salmon on its back, also proper, with a signet ring in its mouth. It signifies an incident in the life of St. Mungo. The Queen of his day being rash, she had confided her marital gift-ring to a soldier. The King, observing it on the sleeping man's hand, flung it into the river and went to his Queen, pretending he wished her to show it to him. When she turned to the saint in despair, Mungo advised that a fishing-line be cast into the Clyde, assuring her that the first fish to be caught would have the ring in its mouth or its stomach. He was right. Repossessing the ring, the Queen was able to confound her jealous husband by producing it. The story fails to mention the fate of the soldier. (D. D.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Dead Sea apple: \u003c\/b\u003eKINGS, IV, 2: Mandeville describes the fruit of the trees on the shore of the Dead Sea in \u003ci\u003eThe Travels of Sir John Mandeville\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"By the side of this sea grow trees that bear apples fine of colour and delightful to look at; but when they are broken or cut, only ashes and dust and cinders are found inside, as a token of the vengeance that God took on those five cities and the countryside round about, burning them with the fires of Hell.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA good lord, so brave, so sweet, so very debonair: \u003c\/b\u003eCHECKMATE, V, 8:  Spoken of a man lying ill, but in fact the lord is Christ, and the writer Henry Plantagent, Duke of Lancaster. \"Sweet and debonair\" was a favourite phrase of the time, also used of the lover in the French poem, \"The Romaunt of the Rose.\" \u003ci\u003eJesus, ce prophete debonaire \u003c\/i\u003emakes an appearance in French Mystery Plays. (D. D.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA large reporter of his owne Acts: \u003c\/b\u003eCHECKMATE, I, 5: Quoted from one of the books in the collection of the character the Dame de Doubtance, the description also appears in the \u003ci\u003eChristian Astrology \u003c\/i\u003e(1647) of William Lilly (1602-1681) as the characteristics of those ruled by the planet Mars (extract): \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNature:  \u003c\/i\u003eHe is a Masculine, Nocturnall Planet, in nature hot and dry, cholerick and fiery, the lesser In fortune, author of Quarrels, Strifes, Contentions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eManners when well dignified:  \u003c\/i\u003eIn feats of Warre and Courage invicibel, scorning any should exceed him, subject to no Reason, Bold, Confident, Immoveable, Contentious, challenging all Honour to themselves, Valiant, lovers of Warre and things pertaining thereunto, hazarding hiimselfe to all Perils, willingly will obey no body, or submit to any; a large Reporter of his owne Acts, one that slights all things in comparison of Victory, and yet of prudent behaviour in his owne affaires. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose governed by Mars are prone to \"The Gall, the left Eare, tertian Feavers, pestilent burning Feavers, Megrams in the Head . . . and such other Diseases as arise by abundance of too much Choller, Anger or Passion.\"","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303636488421,"sku":"NP9780375726682","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375726682.jpg?v=1767739062","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-dorothy-dunnett-companion-isbn-9780375726682","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}