At the heart of this strange and vividly imagined tale set in the chilly landscape of 17th century Denmark lies an old-fashioned love story. Peter Claire, a handsome young English lute player, arrives to join the orchestra in the court of King Christian IV of Denmark at a moment of crisis, and falls in love with Emilia, the maid of Christian's adulterous consort Kirsten.
In a novel with enough plot and characters to sustain a clutch of books, the thread of this story draws it to a satisfying conclusion. And what starts as a dark and foreboding tale set in a court riven by sexual tension and intrigue ends as King Christian solves both his economic and romantic problems in an unpredictable way.
Rose Tremain brings a wry, modern sensibility to a story that sometimes displays its historical research a little too self-consciously. Her wide cast of characters are all brilliantly realised - from the monstrous but somehow likeable Kirsten, with her insatiable sexual appetites, to the king's mother Sofie, hiding her hoard of gold, to Peter Claire's former lover, the Italian Countess O'Fingal, married to the Earl of Fingal in Cork, to Marcus, Emilia's small, possibly autistic brother, to Magdalena, her sexually voracious stepmother.
She weaves a strange but fascinating story, dominated by the character of the King, a vigorous monarch brought to the brink of despair by money worries, his troublesome wife, and disturbing dreams from his past. Trusting in music to soothe him, he turns to Peter Claire - his "angel" - for advice as well.
Unlikely as it sounds, Tremain's is a most original story, described with chilly intensity, from the freezing palace in Copenhagen to the snowy wastes of Jutland.
Frances O Rourke is an Irish Times journalist
