A Son of the Immortals

Louis Tracy’s 1909 romance opens in Paris, where Joan Vernon, a spirited young American studying art, falls into conversation with a charming stranger named Alec Delgrado. He proves to be far more than a fellow bohemian: he is the last prince of a deposed line, and when the reigning monarch of the small Balkan kingdom of Kosnovia is assassinated, Alec is suddenly proclaimed king. What begins as a studio flirtation pulls him into palace intrigue, revolution, and the hard business of governing a restless nation. Tracy works in the Ruritanian vein made popular by Anthony Hope, folding court conspiracy around a love affair that has to survive a crown. Readers who enjoy Edwardian adventure, with its invented principalities and its tug between duty and desire, will find this a brisk period entertainment.