Gerald Schmidt

Alternate 1573 Poland-Lithuania, King Sigismund II falls under spell of alchemist Heinrich von Paracelsus, draining treasury and issuing worthless „transmuted” coin. Only Royal Treasurer Chryzostom Tarnowski — haunted by his own youthful ruin by the same Basel fraudster — recognizes the con. With his gambler son, & Sigismund III the Catholic prince-heir, & Cardinal Radziwiłł, he races to expose the...

1848 Poland. People forage for food, orphan Val Karnowski is adopted by Henry Flis. Despite wife’s objections, Henry insists Val attend school to nurture gifts. only option: State school hostile to Poles. follow Val’s first grammar-school year: bullies, tattle-tales, in/out crowds, jealous peers & teachers, favoritism for Prussians, bias toward others. Interwoven: Bismarck’s 3 am demonic visits urging...

Survival is daily struggle; intelligence, a dangerous gift. Under harsh Prussian rule, peasants forage food. Brilliant orphan Val Karnowski is taken in by kind man who insists on his education — wife resists. His school’s goal is to erase Polish identity. Val faces jealous teachers, bullies, German favoritism. In dark visions of history’s tyrants, Satan urges Bismarck to crush Poles & Jews. Rich historical...