In September 1863, an ailing Jacob Grimm travels through rurual western Germany with his devoted niece August, who longs to learn at last the truth about her family. They are accompanied by Kummel, their new and enigmatic manservant. As relations between the three reach crisis point, vivid flashbacks tell of Jacob's traumas and heartbreaks here in his original homeland.In his compelling historical novel, Haydn Middleton recreates the life story of literature's most famous brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It is a history that could itself almost be a fairytale, with its fabulous changes of fortune, tests of duty and honour, arrogant princes, lost loves and twisted family relationships - all unfolding in a world of dark forests and even darker politics.
