'Over Sweden's capital hovered the foul genius of regicide. Above, its wings were black as a midnight in March; beneath, red as the flames bursting out in a theatre at a masquerade.' One of Sweden's greatest classics, this moving novel weaves the tale of the beautiful but sexless androgyne Tintomara with whom both sexes fall in love, around the assassination of the 'Theatre King' Gustav III on the stage of his own opera house at a masked ball in 1792. Tintomara too comes to a tragic end in what was to have been merely a melodramatic entertainment for the court. But not before s/he causes all sorts of disastrous complications and confusion...

Translated by: Paul Britten-Austen, Paul Britten- Austen