A young Bohemian peasant boy, alone in the world since his home was burnt and his parents enslaved by the soldiers of the evil Duke Boleslas, finds an unexpected new master in this brief but compelling work of historical fiction from Mildred Corell Luckhardt, based upon the story of the famed tenth-century king and saint, Wenceslas. Driven down from his ruined home in the mountains by hunger and cold, and driven from farm and settlement by the fear and misunderstanding of his fellow peasants, Vojak finds himself injured on a road in the wood, where a seemingly humble horseman comes upon him and takes him home. This is no ordinary horseman, however, but the eponymous Good King Wenceslas, Bohemia's new ruler. Gentle and kind, with many plans to improve the life of the people, he is a follower of a new religion called Christianity, and is in constant danger from his scheming brother, Boleslas. Vojak, now named Stephen, is grateful to his new master, but he resists the new faith promoted by the king, which he sees as a form of weakness, and contrary to his longing to eventually revenge himself upon Boleslas. But as his love for Wenceslas grows, and he becomes ever more involved in the effort to keep him safe, Stephen finds that the new faith has much to offer...

Sought out largely because I am interested in retellings and representations of Christmas carols in children's books, and because I found the cover art appealing, Luckhardt's Good King Wenceslas was an unexpected delight. Engaging, engrossing, at times moving, it offers an exploration of a possible history for Wenceslas' page, who features so prominently in the nineteenth-century carol by John Mason Neale that gives the book its name, and which provides the incidents for its final chapter. I don't know very much about this period in the history of central Europe, although it does seem that Luckhardt has drawn upon a number of historical facts - the enmity between Wenceslas and his brother Boleslas (Boleslaus the Cruel), who eventually murdered him; the conflict between Wenceslas and the Duke of Kovrim (Kouřim); the general conflicts engendered by the competing claims of Christianity and tribal paganism - in crafting her story. Although there were times when I felt that her narrative was rather too black and white - Boleslas and Kovrim are depicted as unremittingly villainous, for instance, with no motivation in their hearts besides a lust for power, and a hatred (in Boleslas' case) for Christianity, while Wenceslas is (aptly enough, given his eventual canonization) depicted as saintly and good - in other cases I found her unexpectedly sensitive and nuanced. The way in which she contrasted pagan and Christian practices was interesting, because although she is very clear which is the superior - there are some chilling passages in which Vojak/Stephen suspects that the tribal priest means him as a human sacrifice to the Forest God - she allows for the idea that many pagans are really good people. This finds its strongest expression in the figure of Jan, the king's shoemaker and general adviser, as well as a former pagan priest (now converted to Christianity), who states at one point: "We did not mean to sound as if pagans were not good people. Many pagans are finer than some who call themselves Christians, but do not really follow Jesus."

Leaving aside issues of historical and cultural/religious significance, Luckhardt's story is an exciting one, and her protagonist is an appealing and sympathetic figure. Midnight horse rides, ducal duels, and a sense of living at a pivotal moment in history - a moment when the hero gets to choose which of two competing belief systems to follow - all combine to make the narrative of Good King Wenceslas an engrossing and powerful one. The accompanying artwork by Gordon Laite, who also illustrated Luckhardt's The Story of Saint Nicholas, was absolutely beautiful, and added to my enjoyment considerably. I finished this brief children's novel with a desire to do three things: find a more historical, in-depth work on Wenceslas and his period of Bohemian history, track down Cecil Maiden's A Song for Young King Wenceslas, which offers another work of historical fiction about Wenceslas, and read Luckhardt and Laite's novel about Saint Nicholas. Any book that provides such enjoyment, and leads the reader to eagerly look for more, is one I highly recommend! ( )