Beverly of Graustark

Summary

Beverly of Graustark, that gossamer daydream spun from 1900 celluloid, begins not with a coronation but with the rhythmic clatter of a New England train—a locomotive heartbeat against which Grenfell Lorry, silk-scarfed heir to American fortunes, first glimpses the veiled enigma who calls herself Miss Guggenslocker. Her gloved fingers rest on a moth-eaten atlas; her eyes, half-shut behind sable lashes, already mourn kingdoms Lorry has never heard of. One exchanged glance and the young plutocrat sheds his Gilded-Age armor, stalking her silhouette across Atlantic swells to Graustark, a pocket-sized realm where snow-dusted turrets rise like frayed incisors from the Carpathian fog. Within this toy monarchy, courtiers in moth-eaten ermine haggle over treaties inked with blood collateral; outside, vultures in braided uniforms circle, demanding repayment of debts that would make a Rothschild blink. Lorry learns that his taciturn seat-mate is, in truth, Princess Yetive—sovereign by day, pawn by twilight—betrothed against the treasury’s ledger to a neighboring prince whose idea of diplomacy involves shackles and censuses. Love ignites in a candle-lit library where rebellious books on anarchy share shelves with heraldic tomes; their first kiss is punctuated by distant gunpowder, the palace’s way of applauding. Spies—paper-thin but razor-sharp—smuggle the scandal to enemy courts, framing the American for a dagger left in the seneschal’s back. Duels flare at dawn’s pewter edge; blades flicker like silver fish while parliamentarians gamble on the first drop of blue blood. Banished under pain of dismemberment, Lorry—Harvard fencing champion, fugitive, fool—returns through mountain passes carved only on smugglers’ palms, hell-bent on rescuing both princess and populace from a future written in serfdom’s small print. The finale is no genteled coronation but a gambit of disguises, forged promissory notes, and a single coach-and-four galloping across a minefield of dynastic treachery, its wheels sparking against the iron rails of history.

Synopsis

It is 1900. Grenfell Lorry is the son of wealthy American parents. On a train in New England Lorry meets a mysterious young woman, Miss Guggenslocker, and finds himself irresistibly attracted. Soon he is following her across the ocean to Graustark, a small, remote mid-European kingdom threatened from within and without by power-hungry schemers who will stop at nothing to become its next rulers. Here, he discovers Miss Guggenslocker is actually the princess of Graustark, and the object of many of these schemes. When the two meet again, they both fall in love. Unfortunately, impoverished Graustark owes money to a nearby country it can not repay, and the princess must marry its prince in order to repay the debt. Otherwise, Graustark will lose half its land and its people will become serfs under their cruel new rulers. Surrounded by spies, the news of Grenfell Lorry's love for the princess becomes known and he is challenged to duels, framed for murder and banished from the kingdom. Fortunately, Lorry does not know the meaning of fear, was a fencing champion in college, and is willing to dare anything for love.