Grimm's Last Fairytale

In his compelling new historical novel, Haydn Middleton re-creates the life-story of literature's most famous brothers. It is a history that could almost be a fairytale itself, 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. In September 1863 Jacob Grimm travels through rustic western Germany with his devoted niece, Auguste, who longs to learn at last the emotional truth about her family. They are accompanied by Kummel, their enigmatic manservant. As relations between the three reach crisis point, vivid flashbacks tell of Jacob's traumas and heartbreaks here in his original homeland. Old now, Jacob resists Auguste's attempts to make him take stock of his life. But memories that are repressed have a tendency to reappear in other places, and in other guises...