One of the last works completed by Isak Dinesen before her recent death, Ehrengard belongs to her Gothic Tales, in her own words "fairy tales with dark shadows". It is concerned – on one level – with the dynastic complications of a small but turbulent duchy, and the provision of an heir to the house of Fugger-Babenhausen. Ehrengard is the young Valkyrie who is drawn steadily deeper into an unwanted role in the intrigue, her powerful but only half-awakened nature subjected to appalling conflicts of loyalty, but not overwhelmed.
Disquieting, clairvoyant, and with a faint, bewitching humour, this is creative writing of intense originality.
-from jacket of first edition 1963
