With macabre humour and moving humanity, Daniel Kehlmann lifts the legend of Tyll Ulenspiegel from medieval German folklore and enters him on the stage of the Thirty Years' War. When citizens become the playthings of politics and puppetry, Tyll, in his demonic grace and his thirst for freedom, is the very spirit of rebellion - a cork in water, a laugh in the dark, a hero for all time.
A brilliant, riotous historical novel.