Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Two of Kraszewski's Saxon novels, both set around the court of Augustus the Strong in Dresden and Warsaw. Countess Cosel follows the king's mistress into a prison she never left. Count Bruhl follows the minister whose ambition helped bankrupt Poland. Kraszewski wrote more than two hundred novels; these are among the few available in English.
Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski (1812-1887) was among the most prolific writers in literary history, author of more than 200 novels alongside plays, poetry and historical studies. A Polish novelist, journalist and political activist, he travelled across pre-partition Poland and much of Europe, and is celebrated above all for his cycle of historical novels. Skomlin also publishes Kraszewski's Count Bruhl.
Titles at Skomlin
Born Anna Constantia von Brockdorff this German noblewoman rose from lady-in-waiting to mistress of the King of Poland. Her fate was to be 49 years a prisoner never giving the King the one thing he desperately wanted. In doing so she chose death in prison over freedom.
Count Henryk Brühl was a statesman at the court of Poland and Saxony. With skill and ruthless cunning he dispatched his rivals and gain control of the King and Poland. His ambition and greed exceeded his political ability and left the country bankrupt and utterly unprepared to resist the attacks of the Prussian king.