This is a seemingly straightforward tale of switched identities. A world-weary thief and a spoiled nobleman are on the run together – they exchange places. The thief is in love with nobleman’s cousin and takes his identity in order to marry her, but his past catches up with him. The prose is simple and effective and the plot clips rapidly along, nicely dwelling on some episodes, then moving forward some months or years. Though it’s a historical novel, there’s no wallowing in sumptuous detail (not knocking wallowing) - not some thousand page thing. But the atmosphere is very memorable.

The novel is historical fiction – the forward presents it as a true story, describing an odd episode of the Swedish cavalier who seemed to be in two places at once. The denouement is given in this first section and it certainly becomes obvious how it was accomplished soon on, but all the details, the years, the emotions that go into the finale only become clear on reading the whole book.

The other oddness is of a metaphysical sort. It’s never as explicit, as, say, the supernatural in By Night Under the Stone Bridge, but good and evil perhaps personified by the hellish miller, who recruits people to work in the bishop’s mines, and the angels of the thief’s dream or delusion. Even this is not clear cut - the dreams seem self-justifying and the miller’s deal can be a refuge or one of those turn your life around experiences. Of course the thief is caught between these two poles – between his former identify and his new one, between lawlessness and a lawful life. Which is the real Swedish cavalier – and who is the better one? Both good and bad in those who take on that role. Shifting identities clearly seen in the thief’s progression and repeated encounters - also he is never given a name. There’s also a question of whether the end was fated to happen. Several implications that it was preordained appear in the book. Also, while the actual events of the end are quite clear, the meaning is ambivalent. Is it satisfactory or cruel? Appropriate or ironic? There is certainly a symmetry and link to the beginning. A short and seemingly simple book, but quite interesting and well-done. ( )