Stravaganza (series)
|
City of Masks
City of Stars City of Flowers City of Secrets City of Ships City of Swords |
|
| Author | Mary Hoffman |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
| Published | 2002–2012 |
| Media type | |
| No. of books | 6 |
Stravaganza is a series of novels written by children's author Mary Hoffman. The books are set alternatively between Islington, an area of London, England, and various cities in Talia, an alternate version of Renaissance Italy.
The series originally consisted of a trilogy of books: City of Masks, City of Stars, and City of Flowers. The popularity of the trilogy allowed the series to be extended for three more books: City of Secrets, City of Ships, and City of Swords.
Mary Hoffman was originally inspired to write the Stravaganza series after a family trip to Venice and an incident involving a gondola ride. The subsequent books developed from the original idea. The country of Talia reflects Hoffman's own imagining of what Italy is like. Further inspiration of the settings for each of the books came from Hoffman's regular trips to Italy.
Though the series was intended to be a trilogy, it was later expanded into six books. For continuing the series, the fourth book in the series, City of Secrets, derived from the theme of secrets and knowledge while continuing on the open-ended plot at the end of City of Flowers, where Luciano Crinamorte is due to attend university in the city of Padavia. Each book in the series introduces a new protagonist as a Stravagante, a traveler between England and the parallel world of Talia, while maintaining previously introduced characters as part of the supporting cast.
The Stravaganza series is primarily set in Talia, which is based on Italy during the Renaissance in the 16th century. Most notably, the primary antagonists in the series, the di Chimici family, were inspired by the de Medici family. In the series, it is established that a number of differences exist between Talia and Italy in the 16th century in both historical, religious, and scientific ways.
The existence of Talia parallels the contemporary 21st century world of England, which serves as a secondary setting and the origin of the protagonists of each book in the series. Individuals capable of moving between worlds are known as Stravaganti; a Stravagante's ability to move between worlds is facilitated by a talisman, an object that originally came from the world opposite to the traveler's own world.
The country of Talia comprises twelve city-states, each which have their own equivalents in this world, and appellations referring a unique quality of the city. Half of these city-states are under the political control of members of the di Chimici family, whose strongholds lie in Giglia and in Remora, which is also home to a di Chimici Pope. The few cities which remain outside di Chimici control are either still negotiating political treaties with the di Chimici (Montemurato), or remain independent (Bellezza, Classe, Romula, Padavia, and Cittanuova).
...
Wikipedia