Also, while this novel begins like a biographical account of Tyll Ulenspiegel, a prankster from numerous German folk tales, it is Elizabeth Stuart, an English noblewoman who was briefly Queen of Bohemia and popularly known as the “Winter Queen”, who emerges as the true hero of the novel. It meant I was completely charmed by the book even if I didn’t fully understand the intricacies of several sections. Daniel Kehlmann’s novel “Tyll” concerns The Thirty Years War, German folklore and other subjects from 1600s central Europe that I have even less knowledge about than the Tudor period! But I didn’t mind that so much because the characters (many of whom are compelled by superstitious beliefs) are so engaging and its story of witch trials and the power struggles of self-entitled monarchs is so compelling. This is why it took me so many years to get into “Wolf Hall”. I like to get fully immersed in a story and it’s hard to do that if I feel like I frequently have to check Wikipedia to understand a historical context or situation. I sometimes find it challenging to read historical novels which concern particular wars or political movements when I don’t have much knowledge of these past events.
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