Westmark (1981) is a speculative fiction novel by Lloyd Alexander. It won the National Book Award in the category of Children's Fiction (hardcover edition) in 1982.[1] The novel follows Theo, a printer's devil, while he flees from the law after an altercation with the police. He takes up with a charismatic confidence man named Count Las Bombas and a mysterious girl named Mickle. Mickle is eventually unveiled as the rightful heir to the throne and Theo falls in love with her. The Kestrel continues the story.
Westmark is notable for being one of Alexander's darker works. According to Alexander, it was inspired by the events of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as by his own experiences as a soldier in World War Two. Westmark, both the book and the trilogy bearing its name, has received some attention critically and academically. Notably, while often classed as fantasy, it involves very few, if any, fantastical elements. The novel has instead been considered a meditation on politics, power, and ethical problems.
Origins
Lloyd Alexander, when discussing the novel, and the series at large, attributed its inspiration to the atmosphere of pre-Revolutionary France and figures of the early nineteenth and late eighteenth centuries like Alessandro Cagliostro, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the paintings of Francisco Goya.[2] He noted that Westmark was written because of his complicated feelings about the world and his personal life. Alexander additionally observed that it straddled the line between fantasy and not, labelling it as "quite different from my others."[3] Like his Chronicles of Prydain, Alexander acknowledged that "an awful lot of situations in Westmark" were inspired by his service in World War II. In an interview, Alexander also commented that the process of writing the trilogy was "a profoundly disturbing and painful emotional experience" and that the content and themes were "very meaningful and very painful" for him to write about. Apparently, this led to the much lighter adventure comedies of the Vesper Holly books.[4]
Plot Summary
Theo, a printer's apprentice, takes on a rush job from a mysterious dwarf named Musket. The job is to print pamphlets advertising "Doctor Absalom," whose repertoire of quackery is backed up by an enormous payment. Theo and his master quickly begin the work. As they labor, a Royal Inspector and some guards arrive and ask for the permit for this publication. Because of the speed required for the job, the printers have not yet received the permit. The Royal Inspector and his men begin to dismantle the press. Theo and his master resist. In the struggle, Theo almost kills the Inspector and the guards shoot his master dead. Urged on by a sympathetic local constable, Theo disappears into the night, looking for Musket and Doctor Absalom.
Upon catching up with the duo, Theo discovers that Doctor Absalom is one of many pseudonyms used by the charismatic confidence man Count Las Bombas. Las Bombas conceals Theo's identity from the police. Despite Theo's moral qualms, he joins up with the mountebanks as they travel the kingdom of Westmark. Their scams include attempt to defraud a man named Skeit, who manages to outwit Las Bombas. As the trio travels, they meet up with Mickle. Mickle is a girl who lives on the street and has talents for mimicry and throwing her voice. Theo comes up with a scheme for using her talents to pretend to summon the spirits of the dead. While this is a lucrative act, Theo dislikes how it seems to play on the heartstrings of the bereaved. He decides to leave the group.
Meanwhile the King's Chief Minister, Cabbarus, has been scheming to usurp power. King Augustine has been ailing since the presumed death of his daughter Augusta. While Queen Caroline and the court physician, Doctor Torrens, oppose Cabbarus and urge the king to accept the world as it is, Cabbarus attempts to have the king adopt him and invests in various spiritualists to sate the king's appetite to try to communicate with Augusta. Frustrated, Cabbarus dispatches an assassin to deal with Torrens and uses his private intelligence network to try to have himself either appointed heir or induce the abdication of Augustine.
Eventually, Theo runs into a group of young adults led by a man named Florian. These students are political idealists who decry the power of Cabbarus and agitate for liberalism and republicanism. Theo stays with them and helps them mass produce and distribute leaflets for their cause. One day, Theo hears that Las Bombas, Musket, and Mickle have been imprisoned in a garrison town called Nierkeeping. Florian decides to help Theo and organizes his group for a raid. Doctor Torrens and Keller, a satirist who saved the Doctor's life, meet up with the group just before the attack. The raid turns violent quickly but is successful. In the aftermath Florian argues with Theo and Torrens about his methods and anti-monarchism but agrees to shelter Torrens. Theo rejoins Las Bombas, Musket, and Mickle, with whom he has a blossoming relationship. Before getting too far the four are arrested by Skeit on the orders of Cabbarus.
Mickle's resemblance to the dead Augusta and mimicry skills, as well as Las Bombas's oracle trick, have attracted Cabbarus's attention. He blackmails the group into performing in front of the whole court, including the king and queen, and using Mickle's voice persuade them that Cabbarus should be king. Mickle begins to remember events from her childhood and has a nervous breakdown. During the performance, she exposes Cabbarus as having attempted to murder Augusta and reveals herself as the lost princess. Cabbarus flees and almost falls from the bell tower but is apprehended by Theo. King Augustine and Queen Caroline want Cabbarus executed but Theo persuades them to send him into exile. Torrens returns reporting that Florian's group has gone to ground. King Augustine then promotes Torrens to Chief Minister. Troubled by the events and unrest that he has witnessed, Torrens dispatches Theo to travel Westmark. Theo and Mickle part reluctantly, Mickle to train for her royal status and Theo to undertake his mission.
Sequels
Westmark refers to the country the story is mainly set in, the trilogy of books, and the first volume. While considered a fantasy, it is set in a world very similar to the real one. Alexander cited events and personalities of the Age of Enlightenment as among his inspirations.[2] Notably, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy refers to the series as "Graustarkian adventures" and compares the setting to its entry on Ruritania.[5]The series follows Theo, a printer's apprentice, and Mickle, an urchin with secrets, as they lead the country of Westmark through several crises.
Trilogy Synopsis
Book One is the eponymous Westmark. Theo is on the run from the law. Mickle has amnesia. With the intervention of Count Las Bombas and Musket the dwarf, they become entangled with high politics.
Immediately following Westmark is The Kestrel. Mickle has become Queen of Westmark. The neighboring state of Regia invades Westmark and the professional military largely surrenders. However partisans led by Theo, the Queen, and reformist student groups continue the defense of Westmark.
The Beggar Queen concludes the trilogy. After the war with Regia concludes a military coup brings Cabbarus, an oppressive tyrant, to power in Westmark. Mickle and Theo lead an urban guerilla resistance to the new regime.
Reception
"Lloyd Alexander does not answer questions; he raises them", wrote Jean Fritz for the New York Times Book Review when Westmark was published.[6] Another contemporary review, for the School Library Journal, praised the novel for its "Rich language, excellent characterization, detailed descriptions and a dovetailed plot equal superb craftsmanship."[7] Writing for the Horn Book Magazine, Ethel L. Heins was very complimentary, noting that it engagingly portrayed "the age-old perplexities of right and wrong, human weakness and decency, the temptation of power, and the often unclear call of conscience."[8] The Journal of Reading's reviewer, M. Jean Greenlaw, referred to it as "an exciting and adventurous story replete with the marvelous facility for language play that Alexander always exhibits."[9] Ruth M. Stein, in Language Arts, called it "A book to hug to one's heart."[10]
Westmark has also been examined academically. In their bio-bibliography of Alexander, fantasy scholars James S. Jacobs and Michael O. Tunnell note that the novel, and the series at large, "maintained a feeling similar to fantasy even though nothing in them violated the natural laws of this world." They also highlight that the uniqueness of the series "became Alexander's opportunity to treat some favorite themes with uncompromising honesty: the brutality and senselessness of war, how oppression bruises the gentle spirit, and how even the mildest individual must sometimes fight against an oppressor."[11]
Lloyd Chudley Alexander was an American author of more than 40 books, primarily fantasy novels for children and young adults. Over his seven-decade career, Alexander wrote 48 books, and his work has been translated into 20 languages. His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five high fantasy novels whose conclusion, The High King, was awarded the 1969 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. He won U.S. National Book Awards in 1971 and 1982.
The Chronicles of Prydain is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published by Henry Holt and Company. The series includes: The Book of Three (1964), The Black Cauldron (1965), The Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967), and The High King (1968). The Black Cauldron earned a 1966 Newbery Honor, and The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal.
Princess Eilonwy is a fictional character in Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain. She appears in four of the five novels in the series, as well as Disney's 1985 animated film adaptation The Black Cauldron. Eilonwy is a member of the Royal House of Llyr, and the women in her line are formidable enchantresses, including her mother, Angharad, and grandmother Regat. She has inherited this characteristic, most readily visible in her manipulation of a magical item she calls her "bauble", a small golden sphere that glows with magical light when activated by her willpower. Eilonwy's father, Geraint, was a commoner with whom her mother fell in love.
The Black Cauldron (1965) is a high fantasy novel by American writer Lloyd Alexander, the second of five volumes in The Chronicles of Prydain. The story continues the adventures of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, as he joins in a quest to capture the eponymous Magical Cauldron from Arawn Death-Lord. It was a Newbery Honor book in 1966, runner-up for the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children".
The High King (1968) is a children's fantasy novel by American author Lloyd Alexander. It concludes the Chronicles of Prydain series and won the Newbery Medal for children's literature. In the series, main character Taran matures from an impulsive and childish Assistant Pig-Keeper to a colleague and counselor of kings. Throughout this installment, Taran is required to sacrifice his desires for the greater good. This arc leads him to become High King of Prydain. The novel also draws on Lloyd Alexander's life experiences, including as a soldier in the Second World War.
Judith Tarr is an American fantasy and science fiction author.
The Bartimaeus Sequence is a series of young adult novels of alternate history, fantasy and magic. It was written by British writer Jonathan Stroud and consists of a trilogy published from 2003 to 2005 and a prequel novel published in 2010. The story follows the career of a teenage magician Nathaniel and a five-thousand-year-old djinni Bartimaeus, whom he has summoned and nominally controls, through the alternative history of the peak of London's domination as a magical oligarchy.
Taran Wanderer (1967) is an American high fantasy novel by Lloyd Alexander. It follows The Castle of Llyr and precedes The High King in the series The Chronicles of Prydain, which takes place in a setting inspired by Welsh myth. In the course of the story, Taran goes on a quest to understand who he is and what it means to be a man. He is aided by familiar friends such as Gurgi, Dallben, and others. Taran's hope to have noble lineage stems from his desire to marry the absent Eilonwy.
The Book of Three (1964) is a high fantasy novel by American writer Lloyd Alexander, the first of five volumes in The Chronicles of Prydain. The series follows the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, a youth raised by Dallben the enchanter, as he nears manhood while helping to resist the forces of Arawn Death-Lord.
The Kestrel (1982) is a speculative fiction novel by Lloyd Alexander and is the second volume of the Westmark series. It follows Theo as he comes to grips with his capacity for violence and Mickle as she discovers her ability to lead during an invasion of their country, Westmark. The Beggar Queen follows this installment.
Gurgi is a fictional character in The Chronicles of Prydain, the series of fantasy novels by Lloyd Alexander. Gurgi is the hero Taran's faithful companion, appearing in all five books.
The Bishop's Heir is a fantasy novel by American-born author Katherine Kurtz. It was first published by Del Rey Books in 1984. It was the seventh of Kurtz's Deryni novels to be published, and the first book in her third Deryni trilogy, The Histories of King Kelson. Although The Legends of Camber of Culdi trilogy was published immediately prior to the Histories trilogy, The Bishop's Heir is a direct sequel to Kurtz's first Deryni series, The Chronicles of the Deryni.
The Beggar Queen (1984) is a fantasy novel by American writer Lloyd Alexander, the concluding book of a series often called the Westmark trilogy.
Mary I of England has been depicted in popular culture a number of times.
The First Law is a fantasy series written by British author Joe Abercrombie. The First Law is the title of the original trilogy in the series, but is also used to refer to the series as a whole. The full series consists of a trilogy, three stand-alone novels, short stories, and a second trilogy, titled The Age of Madness, of which the third book was published in September 2021.
Michael O. Tunnell is an American children's writer and educator. He was the department chair of children's literature at Brigham Young University (BYU), but recently retired. He has published several books on children's literature, especially on the work of Lloyd Alexander. Tunnell is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Shattered Sea is a young adult fantasy series written by the British author Joe Abercrombie. The trilogy was published by Del Rey in the United States and Harper Voyager in the UK.
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