The tale of Christian's embattled boyhood and sudden ascension to the throne-a sort of Hans Christian Andersen fable of a mind eagerly expanding, then possessively contracting- brilliantly dramatizes a hungry spirit's resolute perfectionism. Then, in a skillfully presented array of increasingly interlocking narratives (each keyed to a different character's consciousness), Tremain explores a considerable range of human responses to, and involvements with, the overt expressiveness of "music'' and the "silence'' that pervades hearts and minds given to introversion and secrecy. The tale begins in 1629 as Peter Claire, a young English "lutenist'' who’s been summoned to the court of King Christian IV, arrives in Denmark to become the newest member of the royal orchestra. Versatile British author Tremain's eighth novel (after The Way I Found Her, 1998) is the stuff of which fairy-tales are spun, though it also exhibits a compelling psychological and moral density.
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