One of the most dramatic and memorable historical novels to have hit these shores in years...Fierce, direct, imbued with wintry, windswept poetry, Enquist's style makes 18th-century court intrigue as rough and raucous as a mafia feud * Independent * One of those rare, magical books that creates its own world so modestly that it is only halfway through that you realise you have been entranced * Daily Telegraph * An impressive historical novel...brilliantly mixing motifs of madness, role-playing and control * The Times * An elegant and gorgeous novel * Los Angeles Times * was hard to put down. Love, idealism, corruption and insanity in the Danish court of the Enlightenment: the world he draws is so complete, it s a very absorbing read. * Rachel Seiffert, Daily Telegraph *