The King's Bride

Happily engaged to the poet Amandus, Fräulein Anna is horrified to discover that a beautiful ring, mysteriously deposited upon her finger whilst tending her kitchen garden, forces her into marriage with the gnome Corduanspitz. Can Anna find any way of removing the ring? Will her poet lover shake off his passive demeanour and come to her aid? And has Corduanspitz truly relinquished all ties to his gnome heritage?

Around a love story very much of its time, Hoffman arranges a narrative that brings to mind the most successful elements of contemporary magical realism and surreal comedy. Always entertaining, yet capable of a focused though subtle morality, The King’s Bride brings disparate elements into a masterful harmony.

About the Author

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was a composer, caricaturist, critic and author. His works, often bizarre and grotesque, were hugely influential on writers such as Dostoevsky, Kafka and Poe.