The New York Times Best Historical Fiction of 2020 The Guardian's Best Fiction of
2020Thrillist's Best Books of the YearDaniel Kehlmann transports the medieval legend of the
trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel to the seventeenth century in an enchanting work of magical realism
macabre humor and rollicking adventure.Tyll is a scrawny boy growing up in a quiet village
until his father a miller with a forbidden interest in alchemy and magic is found out by the
church. After Tyll flees with the baker s daughter he falls in with a traveling performer who
teaches him his trade. As a juggler and a jester Tyll forges his own path through a world
devastated by the Thirty Years War evading witch-hunters escaping a collapsed mine outside a
besieged city and entertaining the exiled King and Queen of Bohemia along the way. The result
is both a riveting story and a moving tribute to the power of art in the face of the senseless
brutality of history.Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin
