Music & Silence - Tapa dura

"The best historical novelist of her generation. She evokes the past--with sensuality, wit and superb sleights of hand." - A. N. Wilson "Lyrical, voluptuous--splendid--A sumptuous drama lit by the glamorous torchlight of the courtly past." - "Sunday Times" "Historical fiction so epic in scope and so moving and imaginative that the reader lives a second life." - "Time Out" "Superb--a wonderful, joyously noisy book." - "Guardian" "Tremain's achievement in "Music & Silence" is extraordinary--A narrative as funny as it is compelling." - "Daily Telegraph" "Magnificent--shot through with Tremain's unique blend of psychological acuity and charm." - "The Times" "From the Trade Paperback edition."

In the year 1629, a young English lutenist named Peter Claire arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV's Royal Orchestra. From the moment when he realises that the musicians have to perform in a freezing cellar underneath the Royal apartments, he understands that he's come to a place where the opposing states of Good and Evil, Light and Dark are waging a war to the death. Designated the 'King's Angels' because of his blond good looks, he finds himself falling in love with a young woman who is the companion of the King's adulterous and estranged wife, Kirsten. With his loyalties fatally divided, how can Peter Claire find the path that will realise his hopes and save his soul? (1999-03-22)