Based on royal archives, Queen Helen's unpublished diaries, sources in Romania, and interviews with King Michael, Queen Helen and Crown Princess Margarita, it integrates the story of Michael with that of the country which he once ruled, and which he once tried to save. during the Second World War. After refusing to be a puppet to give legitimacy to the regime Hitler had set up in Romania he led a coup d'etat against the Germans which shortened the war and postponed the communist dictatorship of his country. For three years, from 1944-7, with the Soviet army in occupation, the Western Allies unable to help, and the two main democratic parties virtually destroyed, he hung on grimly to some degree of constitutional democracy until Stalin showed his hand. affection and support by the Romanian people. When he returned in 1996 he told them, 'I love you. Don't forget that.'

    Winner of the Sandor Marai prize, and in the tradition of 'A Curious Incident' and 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', 'The White King' is the story about a young boy in a totalitarian state in a quest for his disappeared father."

    Recognized historians and ethnologists analyze the relationship, coexistence and conflicts of popular belief systems, Judeo-Christian mythology and demonology in medieval and modern Europe. The essays address links between rites and beliefs, folklore and literature; the legacy of various pre-Christian mythologies; the syncretic forms of ancient, medieval and modern belief- and rite-systems; "pure" examples from religious-ethnological research outside Europe to elucidate European problems.