Life is a Dream

Hello! It's me, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, the greatest playwright of the Spanish Golden Age. I have come from the grave-the 17th century to be precise-to recount my most famous play, La vida es sueno, as a novel. We travel back to 17th century Muscovy. A beautiful young woman, Rosaura, has been brutally attacked by the local duke. When the evil duke travels abroad to Poland, the timid Rosaura heeds her mother and journeys after him to seek vengeance and reclaim her honor. To her horror, though, she discovers that tradition compels her to wed her attacker, and she is forced to choose between convention and blood lust. Will she marry the duke, or kill him? And don't worry, I haven't left out the famous sub-plot about the king of Poland who, heeding a prophecy, imprisoned his infant son Sigismundo for life. Now, years later, the king decides to test the ancient prophecy and give the young man a second chance... It's a wondrous tale full of swordplay, vengeance, love, war, and above all, the matter of honor. Join me on this fantastic adventure! ------ "Tarjan plays it straight-faced, managing not just to create a fast-moving saga but also introducing some relatively sophisticated meditations on the outmoded 17th-century conception of "honor"-what it means and if it's worth anything-into the book, developing it through his characters rather than forcing them to become stilted mouthpieces. A brisk novella... the book is fleet enough to seem fresh and entertaining ... A solid debut." -Kirkus Discoveries"Life is a Dream is that rare thing in literature: A grand entertainment. Joshua Tarjan has written an exuberant adventure that surprises and beguiles on every page. Full of wit. Full of wisdom. Romance. And that rarity: Fun."-Peter Nelson, screenwriter of the award-winning film, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne