The Visit Of The Royal Physician

Adultery, insanity, enlightenment and the bluest blood - this compelling and prize-winning historical novel exposes the seamy underside of eighteenth-century Denmark.

Everyone has heard stories of King George, but few know about his brother-in-law, Christian VII, the King of Denmark at the end of the eighteenth century. When Christian VII, young, mad and highly impressionable, assumes the Danish throne, many seek to control the new king, capitalising on his mental frailty to advance their own interests.

Two men stand out: Struensee, the reform-oriented court physician and Guldberg, the cold-blooded religious fanatic. As the clash between these two men and all they represent - science and religion; ideology and diplomacy; the temptations of the flesh and the certainties of dogma - escalates, the fate of an entire nation hangs in the balance.

Enquist brilliantly recasts a dramatic era of Danish history, weaving a wide range of historical characters - Voltaire and Diderot, Catherine the Great and George III - into a tale of ruthless political ambition and personal betrayal.