Unicorn

In the years following World War One, Europe remains in turmoil…

As if the war to end all wars was not enough, now revolution is bringing an end to the remnants of the old ways. Monarchs, princes and grand dukes all tumble.

Only Rheingoldstein, a duchy so small as to be forgotten, remains untouched.

Even when the Grand Duke foresees the inevitable, and removes himself from the situation, his steely widow presses on regardless.

In her eyes, their daughter Margarethe must carry on the ducal tradition.

There simply is no alternative. Nothing else to do, no comprises to be made.

But the choice is not, in the end, theirs to make.

In the years that follow, Margarethe and her mother forge a new type of existence, a peripatetic, hand-to-mouth lifestyle that horrifies the mother but affords her daughter a degree of freedom.

Margarethe, who lacks subtlety and elegance but has an abundance of courage and initiative, decides to make the most of that freedom.

Her subsequent adventures take her across Europe, to London and Paris, into the company of struggling artists and dubious companions.

Then, somehow, she finds herself back home. And as she gives birth to what should have been the next Grand Duke, Margarethe senses that a new political movement may be stirring in Rheingoldstein …

An epic tale that traces events in a momentous period in European history, Unicorn is also the story of one woman’s very particular story. It is bound to appeal to lovers of both historical and character-driven fiction alike.