Dorothy Dunnett

In a different vein today - this post is about Dorothy Dunnett, a Scottish author who blew my younger mind into the stratosphere with her writing in the 20th Century (man, I sound old!). I found this recently, and it reminded me of how much I loved her work (and I was saddened to realise she isn't with us anymore):

As a child, I soon grew bored with the children's books in the library and convinced my dad to let me use his cards for the adult section, and among other series I discovered Dunnett's completed Lymond series, about Francis Crawford, a character I definitely fell hook, line and sinker for. Later, older, wiser and in this century, her completed House of Niccolo series had me in renewed raptures. My first love is Fantasy, but these books made me fall for Historical fiction also :)

Have you read them? If you haven't, do! Being historical, the read fits even today. The images below are not the best - really had to search for images to show you - and there are varied covers for the prints over the years. I say, never mind which cover you end up with, it's what's inside that counts.

Seriously, I remember reading Checkmate with my heart racing, hoping Francis would emerge from the horror surrounding him intact! Now I'm on a mission to acquire copies of all the books, and I will be reading them again …