The Visit Of The Royal Physician

Description

Everyone has heard stories of King George, but few know about his brother-in-law, Christian VII, the King of Denmark at the end of the eighteenth century. When Christian VII, young, mad and highly impressionable, assumes the Danish throne, many seek to control the new king, capitalising on his mental frailty to advance their own interests. Two men stand out: Struensee, the reform-oriented court physician and Guldberg, the cold-blooded religious fanatic. As the clash between these two men and all they represent - science and religion; ideology and diplomacy; the temptations of the flesh and the certainties of dogma - escalates, the fate of an entire nation hangs in the balance. Enquist brilliantly recasts a dramatic era of Danish history, weaving a wide range of historical characters - Voltaire and Diderot, Catherine the Great and George III - into a tale of ruthless political ambition and personal betrayal.

Per Olov Enquist is one of Sweden's most acclaimed writers- a novelist, playwright and poet with works published in 26 countries. The Visit of the Royal Physician is his first novel since Captain Nemo's Library in the early 90s.

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 *