11 h 59 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is love worth in a mountain land where rank rules hearts and a man's word means everything?
In 'Midst the Wild Carpathians, Mór Jókai takes you into late seventeenth-century Transylvania, a small principality between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg crown. Mountain forts, noble families and rival courts fill a world where political pressure reaches into private lives.
At the heart of this historical romance, love struggles against rank and duty. Proud people guard their honor through danger and intrigue, while the Carpathians rise around them, beautiful and sometimes menacing. Jókai brings together the demands of society and the force of feeling in a landscape that seems almost alive.
What you’ll discover
- Love against rank Enter a romance where deep feeling must contend with the rules of a proud society.
- Honor under pressure Discover a world where a man's word is his most valuable possession.
- Between great powers Explore a small mountain principality caught between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg crown.
- Mountains with a presence Feel the beauty and menace of the Carpathians through Jókai's rich, painterly descriptions.
- A bold Hungarian romance Step among noble families, mountain forts and rival courts in an adventure drawn in bright colors.
Who will love it
Readers who love historical fiction with real kings, pashas and magnates, romantic mountain scenery, sword fights, court intrigue, and a strong-minded heroine in the middle of it all.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A hunt ends in a hero's death
- A farm wife saves her husband
- A prince against his will
- Kemeny's feast and Beldi's kiss
- A Turkish pasha and a Magyar boy
- The battle of Nagy Szollos
- A princess teaches the prince
- A freebooter's palace and a ministers' court
- The Devil's Garden and a panther
Who’s who
- Michael ApafiA gentle, bookish landowner freed from Tartar captivity, who is made Prince of Transylvania against his will and would rather study old coins.
- Anna BornemissaApafi's tall, strong-willed wife, who sold her jewels to ransom him and now guides him through court politics with wit and courage.
- Michael TelekiThe bald, sober, watchful minister who rises to power and wants Transylvania to join a war for Hungary.
- Denis BanfiA proud, quick-tempered magnate, brilliant in battle, who trusts his own strength and refuses to bow to anyone.
- Paul BeldiThe calm Captain-General of the Szeklers, who loves peace and his family but cannot forget an insult.
- AzraelA beautiful, restless odalisk who lives for power and admires only whoever has the most of it.
- Clement the ClerkA naive, absent-minded poet made patrol officer, who wears borrowed boots and stumbles into the secrets of great men.
- Kucsuk PashaA fierce Turkish general with a Hungarian wife, who keeps his word, loves his family, and trains his young son for war.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 59 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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'Midst the Wild Carpathians
by Mór Jókai · 1852
A boar hunt ends in death, and a farmer ransomed from the Tartars is crowned Prince of Transylvania against his will.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Midst the Wild Carpathians is a historical novel by the Hungarian writer Mór Jókai, who died in 1904. It is set in the Transylvania of the 1660s, a small, proud principality squeezed between the Turkish Sultan and the German Emperor.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A hunt ends in a hero's death
The story opens in 1666 in the wild marshes of the Drave valley. Jokai spends pages on the swamps before the hunting party appears. At its head rides Nicolas Zrinyi, a huge, blue-eyed lord who is both a soldier and a poet. Behind him ride his niece Helen, a fearless young woman, and a young cavalier at her side. Farther back rides a young Transylvanian named Nicolas Bethlen.
A bald, watchful man rides near them and keeps pressing the young Transylvanian, Nicolas Bethlen, to take part in politics. Bethlen brushes him off, saying he wants only to hunt today. The reader is told to study this man's face, because he will follow the story from start to finish.
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What is Midst the Wild Carpathians about?
It follows Transylvania in the 1660s, when the gentle Michael Apafi is made Prince by the Turks. It shows his wise wife Anna, his scheming minister Teleki, and the proud magnate Denis Banfi, whose quarrels shape the fate of the country.
Is Midst the Wild Carpathians based on a true story?
Yes, in part. Apafi, Banfi, Teleki, Beldi, Kucsuk Pasha and Zrinyi were real figures of the 1600s, and the main events follow history. Jokai added invented scenes, comic episodes and characters to fill out the story.
Who is Azrael in the novel?
Azrael is a beautiful odalisk, first the favorite of the Turkish robber Corsar Beg, then of Banfi. She keeps a panther, lives in a hidden retreat called the Devil's Garden, and loves power above every person.
The author
Mór Jókai
1825–1904 · Hungarian novelist
Mór Jókai was a Hungarian novelist, short-story writer and journalist. He was born in Komárom in 1825 and died in Budapest in 1904. He wrote in Hungarian and published novels throughout the nineteenth century. His novels include The Golden Man, published in 1872. He also wrote plays.
More by Mór Jókai
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