Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann

 

In a small Austrian village, one boy is not content to grow up and live a routine life.  He teaches himself to walk a tightrope and to juggle.  When his father who is the miller is singled out by witchhunters for his interest in books, Tyll and the baker's daughter, Nela, run away.  They find a mentor and become traveling folk, singing, dancing and entertaining as they move from village to village.

Over the years, Tyll and Nela are there for many of the biggest events of the time.  They spend time in a monastery, a circus, on the road, and at the court of the King and Queen of Winter, a foolish pair whose ambitions start the Thirty Year War.  Tyll remains an elusive figure, skilled not only in acrobatics and entertainment but in manipulation of those around him.

Daniel Kehlmann is a German writer and is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Each one of his books is very different from the next and that is a characteristic that I look for in an author.  Tyll was shortlisted for the International Booker as was Kehlmann's latest novel, The Director.  The character in this novel was based on the medieval trickster, Tyll Ulenspiegel.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.