The public’s appetite for adventures set in the distant past is insatiable, and in Florentine Masque, David Caldo offers aficionados of this genre a gargantuan feast. Set in the 14th Century, in and around Florence, the novel traces the adventures of the young brother and sister, Alessandro and Felicia Gerfalco, who survived the plague in Florence, only to find that their parents have been murdered. Like any good Italian, Alessandro pledges to avenge this massacre, and eight years later he finds his first clue to the murderer’s identity. The quest to mete out revenge brings him and his sister face to face with some of the most sinister characters trying to profit from Florence’s nascent banking boom - it even leads them to skulduggery in the Vatican itself.

Although fiction, Caldo has gone to great lengths to ensure that the historical context remains as true to fact as possible. This is reflected in his capturing of the social, economic and moral mood of the period; it is further brought to life by his attention to everyday details - the food, the clothes, the habits. Elements of the story are directly drawn from real life events - corrupt and debauched popes did indeed exist and, banking was generating greed and a suspension of morality.

Caldo cites one of his influences for this novel as the Italian medieval poet, Boccaccio. For English readers this influence may be more recognisable coming third-hand through the work of another devotee of Boccaccio: Shakespeare - Florentine Masque certainly has something of the Shakespearean comedy about it.

Yet, despite these concerns with the past, Florentine Masque is definitely a modern novel. Caldo is a born storyteller who knows how much to give the reader in order to hold their attention and when to hold back, when the weight of too much detail might snap the narrative thread. Sex and violence enter the novel, but not so much that it becomes gratuitous; and Caldo avoids a common pitfall among novelists by not trying to dazzle the reader with his knowledge of the period, just enough to maintain veracity. All in all, Florentine Masque is a well-crafted, fascinating adventure.

Francesco Bordo
January 2009
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