The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist

“Realized with a vividness and subtlety that place the book in the front ranks of contemporary literary fiction,” - The New York Times Book Review “An enthralling fable of the temptations of power-and a surprisingly poignant love story,” - Time This novel, perfect for book clubs, is a compelling look into the intrigues of an Enlightenment court and the life of a singular man. And yet, his ambitions ultimately led to tragedy. His is a gripping tale of power, sex, love, and the life of the mind, and it is superbly rendered here by Sweden’s most acclaimed writer.Ī charismatic German doctor and brilliant intellectual, Struensee used his influence to introduce hundreds of reforms in Denmark in the 1760s and had a tender and erotic affair with Queen Caroline Mathilde, who was unsatisfied by her unstable, childlike husband.

The Royal Physician's Visit magnificently recasts the dramatic era of Danish history when Johann Friedrich Struensee-court physician to mad young King Christian-stepped through an aperture in history and became the holder of absolute power in Denmark. A handsome doctor stirs up scandal in the eighteenth-century Danish royal court in this “extraordinarily elegant and gorgeous novel” ( Los Angeles Times).

The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist