In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages

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During the late Middle Ages, conflict raged between France and England as they battled in pursuit of power, the throne and beyond. It became known as the Hundred Years War. Hella S. Haasses epic masterpiece brings this period to vivid life, as the novels infamous characters move across a panoramic tapestry woven together by criss-crossed bloodlines and intense rivalries. There is the mad King Charles VI and his heartless Bavarian wife Isabeau; the Kings dashing brother Louis, Duke of Orlans and his sensitive Italian Duchess, Valentine. Their son, Charles, inherits a ferocious feud with the powerful and scheming Duke of Burgundy. Meanwhile, their bastard son becomes the right arm of Joan of Arc. Charles of Orlans is the central character of this astonishing novel, a man caught up in deadly dynastic rivalries who survives because he is captured by the English at the Battle of Agincourt and made their prisoner for the next 25 years. In that time he perfects his craft as a writer and becomes one of the great French poets of the era. In a narrative that spans decades, we also bear witness to the reign of three English Kings: Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, the brilliant leader of the English army, who changes the face of war at Agincourt. First published in the Netherlands in 1949 and never out of print, In a Dark Wood Wandering is a timeless classic.

Reviews

[Haasse] has a gift for painting banquets, battles and great ceremonial meetings; these set-pieces glow from the text like rich old oils, ducky and mellow * Washington Post *
Marvelous... Haasse's panorama shows us how great events are experienced by believably human people * USA Today *
Starkly depicts not only an individual and a culture in crisis, but also compellingly reflects one age in another * Chicago Tribune *
This splendid book exemplifies the distant, yet poignantly resonant voices of fifteenth-century French court society * New York Times Book Review *
Written with a sure grasp of history, storytelling, and human nature * Cleveland Plain Dealer *

Author Bio

Hlne 'Hella' Serafia Haasse (19182011) was a Dutch writer, often referred to as the 'Grande Dame' of Dutch literature. The author of seventeen novels as well as poetry, plays and essays, Haasse received numerous honours and awards during her lifetime, including the Netherlands State Award for Literature. Her books have been translated into many languages, including English, French, German, Swedish, Italian and Hungarian. Lewis C. Kaplan was a Chicago-born historian, writer and published translator with a gift for languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Yiddish.