Review
“[A] funny (really!) look at this disastrous Crusade through the eyes of a wacky Welshman, a pious knight and his half-brother and an Arab princess (who isn’t what she seems) they hope to return to her Egyptian home. It’s a raucous road trip set in the 13th century.” (New York Post )
“A tasty fictional stew, mixing elements of twelfth-century culture together skillfully to produce a veritable reading feast . . . .The combination of vicious politics, mysterious doings, betrayals, and double-dealing, added to a leisurely but engaging plot, will keep those pages turning.” (Booklist )
“A clever novel of courtly love . . . entertains with a flourish.” (Publishers Weekly )
“[A]ttention to detail and humor keeps the novel both exhaustive and hilarious...Nicole Galland is exceptionally well versed in the fine nuances of storytelling and illustrating the combustible nature of mixing religion, commerce and war.” (St. Petersburg Times (Florida) )
“[A]t once an idiot’s guide to the tangled geopolitical landscape of 13th century and a clear and stern indictment of contemporary events...Thick with delectable historical details.” (Martha's Vineyard Times on CROSSED )
“A wallop of a first novel—entertaining and engaging.” (San Francisco Chronicle on The Fool’s Tale )
“ THE FOOL’S TALE creates a vivid 12th Century world and three unforgettable characters whose lives entwine with war and politics, and climax in an ending as haunting as it is powerful.” (William Dietrich, author of Hadrian's Wall )
“An astonishing work of imaginative empathy, buttressed by deep research and enriched by lively storytelling.” (Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author )
“This is a wonderful historical novel that proves that all people see themselves as the hero of their own lives.” (Peter Sagal, host of NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! )
“A convincing portrayal of a tormented, delusional man whose complacted web of deceit destroys everyone around him.” (Library Journal on I, IAGO )
“The delights of this book, lushly set in Renaissance Venice, lie in Galland’s ability to take a series of tiny mistakes, deceptions and wrong turns and roll them into a juggernaut.” (More magazine on I, IAGO )
From the Back Cover
From Nicole Galland, acclaimed author of The Fool's Tale, comes a marvelous evocation of a distant time and place . . . and a breathtaking reexamination of one of literature's classic villains
From earliest childhood, the precocious boy called Iago had inconvenient tendencies toward honesty—a failing that made him an embarrassment to his family and an outcast in the corrupt culture of glittering Renaissance Venice. Embracing military life as an antidote to the frippery of Venetian society, Iago won the love of the beautiful Emilia and the regard of Venice's revered General Othello. After years of abuse and rejection, Iago was poised to achieve everything he had ever fought for and dreamed of . . .
But a cascade of unexpected deceptions propels him on a catastrophic quest for righteous vengeance, contorting his moral compass until he has betrayed his closest friends and family, and sealed his own fate as one of the most notorious villains of all time.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello—a timeless tale of friendship and treachery, love and jealousy—Galland's I, Iago sheds fascinating new light on a complex soul, and on the conditions and fateful events that helped to create a monster.
