First published 1974
Prince Rupert of the Rhine rides through an England where steam engines cut across landscapes populated by fairy folk. Shakespeare's characters once walked this world as real people, leaving Hamlet's story as historical fact rather than drama. Puck and Titania still inhabit the forests while Cromwell's Parliamentary forces wage war against the Royalists using observation balloons and modern weaponry. The English Civil War rages with industrial technology, but magic remains woven into the fabric of reality. As locomotives carry troops between battles, the old powers of the woodland realm persist alongside human ambition and political upheaval. Rupert must navigate a conflict where ancient enchantments meet the machinery of progress, and where the outcome will determine whether tradition or revolution shapes the future. This is a world balanced between the mechanical and the mystical, where the familiar struggles of history play out under different rules.
Genres: science-fiction, historical-fiction, fantasy, alternate-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: England
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
Hardcover · Doubleday & Company (Garden City, NY)