Iago: A Novel
It’s early sixteenth-century Venice, and one of Shakespeare’s most intriguing scoundrels has just escaped from a Cyprus prison. He’s been accused of several murders, including those of the island’s governor (the Moor) and his wife, Desdemona. Sound familiar? Readers of Snodin’s debut revisit the story of Othello to explore the motivations of its charming but evil mystery man. In Snodin’s world, Iago embarks on a convoluted journey to evade the law, joined by a cast of characters representing a slice of the Venetian social pie, including young Gentile Stornello, heir to a well-known local family; his tutor, Baldassare; and Franceschina, a young servant girl whom Gentile loves from afar. On their trail is Annipale Malipiero, chief inquisitor of Venice, known locally for his heinous torture methods, but who is far more interested in what makes Iago tick. As the novel unfolds, readers are swept up into a fast-paced, dark, yet humorous adventure. Iago is a complex, detailed immersion into Renaissance Venetian life and a thoughtfully imagined speculation on the fate of one of literature’s most famous desperados. --Carol Gladstein