A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril.
When Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains – a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules and leaving everything behind – even the knighthood he has dreamed of for so long.
The fate of a kingdom depends on just one person…
He must trust no one.
He must keep his true identity secret.
Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter. Pushkin Press
Some years ago a friend gave me a book - The Secrets of the Wild Wood. When I looked at it more closely I discovered it was the second book in a series so some time last year I bought book one - The Letter for the King.
I now discover a few things
- Tonke Dragt is the IBBY Netherlands 2022 Hans Christian Andersen nominee
- The Letter for the King is a translated book from Dutch - the original title is De brief voor de koning
- The Letter for the King was first published in 1962.
- It is a very long book with 508 pages. The audio book is nearly 16 hours of listening.
- You can read the plot in great detail here along with a full character list
- The Letter for the King was translated in 2013 into English
This book is included in 1001 children's books you must read before you grow up. Here is a quote:
"The story is structured like an epic narrative and offers the readers a range of thrilling adventures that take place in the Middle Ages. Tonke Dragt has incorporated a large number of fairy-tale motifs into the story and borrowed elements from Arthurian legend. In 1963 this book was proclaimed the best children's book of the year in the Netherlands."
Reading The Letter for the King is a marathon. I spent many weeks in the company of Tiuri. This is a rewarding reading experience because Tiuri is a brave hero; he is a loyal friend; he overcomes enormous difficutlies; and (thank goodness) he does deliver the letter to the King - a happy ending. If your young (ages 10+) reading companion enjoys books filled with medieval knights, wild horse riding, the power struggle of good and evil, and splendid story book heroes then this book is well worth finding.
This book has been made into a Netflix series. Watching the trailer this series does look very different from the book.
In 1996 Tonke Dragt wrote The Goldsmith and the Master Thief. This book is not related to this series but I wanted to share that the English translation of this will be available in May, 2021.
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