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Freddy and Fredericka will ascend the English throne only if they reacquire the American colonies and become noble spirits in an ignoble age.
Penguin
July 2005
576 pages
ISBN: 1594200548
Hardcover
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Contemporary | Fantasy
Helprin's latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory of
a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking
of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the
individuals caught in its lonely absurdities. Freddy is the Prince of Wales, Fredericka his troublesome
wife. An overeducated, bumbling anachronism, Freddy commits
one glorious gaffe after another, for which he is massacred
daily in the British press. Golden-haired Fredericka,
frivolous and empty headed, is particularly fond of wearing
spectacular clothing with revealing necklines. Because of
the epic public relations disasters caused by these wayward
heirs to the throne, they are sent, in a little-known
ancient tradition, on a quest to colonize a strange and
barbarous land: America. In a tour (de force) of the United States, they are
parachuted into the gleaming hell of industrial New Jersey
and make their way across the country--riding freight
trains, washing dishes, stealing art, gliding down the
Mississippi, impersonating dentists, fighting forest fires,
and becoming ineluctably enmeshed in the madness of a
presidential campaign. Amid the collisions of their royal
assumptions with their life on the road, they rise to their
full potential, gain the dignity and humility required of
great monarchs and good people, and learn to love each
other. There is nothing quite like it. Helprin is a lyrical writer
whose graceful prose is studded with profound truths and
insights. Devoted readers know him for his deeply sad
stories that are yet uplifting in their conviction of the
goodness and resilience of the human spirit. In what seems
like a radical departure of form (as if de Tocqueville had
been rewritten by Mark Twain with a deep bow to Harpo
Marx), this brilliantly refashioned fairy tale is a
magnificently funny farce. But behind the laughter Helprin
speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and
the primacy of love. He leaves us with the final impression
that someone has shouted successfully past the cynicism of
our postmodern age in behalf of honor, beauty, nobility,
and dreams that come true.
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