Almqvist's great novel of 1834 appears at long last in English translation. Although a German translation appeared over 50 years ago, the Swedish classic has been neglected in the English-speaking world. This is all the more remarkable because the novel has rightly been regarded by the Swedish critics as one of the absolute masterpieces of Scandinavian prose, and because the sensational event on which it is centred -- the assassination of King Gustaf III in 1792 -- is familiar to an international opera audience through the Verdi opera Un ballo in maschera.