A book of falsehoods

***A Financial Times Fiction in Translation Book of the Year 2022***The third part in an epic historical trilogy - The Estonian answer to Wolf Hall - by the nation's greatest modern writer 1578.

A ship from Rostock arrives in Tallinn loaded with printed copies of Balthasar Russow's Chronicle - the culmination of our hero's life's work.

But though it is an instant success, as it was in Rostock and numerous German cities, not everyone is happy to see it published.

A group of local gentry denounce it to the town council as "a book of heinous falsehoods", and lobby for Balthasar to relieved as pastor of Holy Ghost Church. But all is not lost. Balthasar may call on a powerful ally - if he is willing to pay the price.

In this final volume, fierce storms, along with famine, war and plague, continue to be loosed upon Livonia.

Balthasar's personal life, too, is fraught with turbulence and loss, much of it stemming from his own jealousy and suspicion.