The Visit of the Royal Physician

The Visit of the Royal Physician

by Tiina Nunnally (Author), Per Olov Enquist (Author)

Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD It is the 1760s, the height of the Enlightenment. The young King of Denmark, Christian VII, is a half-wit. His queen, the English princess Caroline Mathilde, has fallen in love with his most trusted advisor, the court physician Struensee. Guldberg, a cold-blooded religious fanatic, is determined to annihilate the Enlightenment ideas Struensee is introducing to Denmark - whoever prevails in their bitter ideological battle will control not only the king but the nation state. Adultery, insanity, back-stabbing and blue blood...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.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: 1st Edition Thus.
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 10 Apr 2003

ISBN 10: 0099447053
ISBN 13: 9780099447054
Book Overview: Adultery, insanity, enlightenment and the bluest blood - this compelling and prize-winning historical novel exposes the seamy underside of eighteenth-century Denmark.
Prizes: Shortlisted for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2003 and International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2003.

Media Reviews
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 *
Author Bio
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.