The King Amazd : A Chronicle

"The queen's nightdress was so heavy it could have stood alone. At a certain place was a hole with a sewn edging - and just above it a scarlet cross and the legend - -Get thee behind me Satan'. Spain is in peril at war with the Dutch and the English - and worse - a giant serpent is loose in the land, a crack in the street leaks sulphur straight from hell, and witches of uncertain gender ride their brooms across the night sky. The Inquisitor-General convenes his priestly council - the earnest Capuchin, the errant Jesuit and Father Rivadesella, who talks daily with the devil. Satan, it seems, is good company; polite, rational and, though he says it himself, second in intelligence only to God. The cause of such wonders? The king has lain with a whore, and he has asked to see his wife naked! Torrente Ballester, a varied and prolific talent, is one of Spain's major novelists. The only paperback edition available, with introduction, notes, bibliography and chronology of Torrente