In a Dark Wood Wandering Author:Hella S. Haasse, Lewis C. Kaplan (Translator), Anita Miller (Editor) This is the first English translation of this monumental work. Set in the fifteenth century, during the Hundred Years War between France and England, Hella Haasse's epic masterpiece brilliantly captures all the drama of one of the great ages of history. — The novel's larger-than-life characters move across a panoramic tapestry woven toget... more »her by criss-crossed bloodlines and intense rivalries. There is the mad king Charles VI and his heartless Bavarian wife Isabeau; the King's dashing brother Louis, Duke of Orleans; his sensitive Italian Duchess, Valentine, and their son Charles, who inherits a ferocious feud with the powerful and scheming Duke of Burgundy. There are also Louis' bastard son Dunois - the fruit of his seduction of the beautiful wife of a courtier - who becomes the right arm of Joan of Arc, and the English Kings: Richard II; Henry IV, and Henry V, the brilliant architect of the English army, who changes the face of war at the battle of Agincourt.
Hella Haasse frees these characters and many more from the dust of centuries. She shows us that their lives were a delicate balance of splendor and misery and makes us feel their passions, sorrows and joys. 'In a Dark Wood Wandering' is an important and classic work that, through its exceptional evocative and suggestive power, brings an entire age to life.« less