Iago
A Novel
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An unforgettable adventure beginning where Shakespeare's Othello leaves off
Wounded in love, tormented by his past, Shakespeare's most complex villain is brought magnificently to life in this tale of two adversaries—one an accused killer; the other, one of the most powerful men in Venice. Having escaped from Cyprus, accused of the murders of the governor, known as the Moor, and his lovely young wife, Iago is now locked in battle with Annibale Malipiero, known as Il Terribile, the chief inquisitor of Italy's greatest city.
Malipiero is repelled by the more brutal tasks of the interrogante. His obsession is with the very nature of evil. What makes a man into a murderer, he longs to know? Is Iago a lone psychopath, or does he lie at the heart of a more widespread Ottoman conspiracy? Malipiero knows that torture will not provide him with the answers he seeks. But there is, perhaps, a more audacious and unusual route to the truth . . .
Exuberantly inventive, thrillingly complex, and richly entertaining, Iago will captivate fans already familiar with Shakespeare and appeal to anyone who loves a rich historical novel. Iago marks the emergence of a remarkable new literary voice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The chase is on to find, capture, and above all understand Shakespeare's cleverest villain in this debut novel by Snodin, previously a screenwriter for the BBC who worked on adapting the Bard. Gentile Stornello, a precocious and lovestruck Venetian youngster, becomes tied to Iago through the plot of an inquisitor interested less in torture than in the belief that Iago the Mantuan holds the key to understanding the nature of evil. From Iago's reckless escape from captivity in Cyprus, where he has just engineered the deaths of Othello and Desdemona, to street fights, funerals, and torture chambers of Venice and an epic chase across Italy, Snodin gives readers a closeup of an unforgettable villain: his charm, his strength, his capacity for brutality and manipulation. And the further Stornello travels with Iago on his journey, the closer we come to where the truth may lie: the past. The novel, while more violent and less psychologically compelling than the source material, ably shades in the lines of Shakespeare's most enigmatic creation while simultaneously taking readers on a dark, fast-paced adventure with satisfying moments of humor and romance.
