The Freebooter of the Baltic

A swashbuckling tale of piracy on the Baltic, set in seventeenth-centurySweden — with political overtones. When young nobleman Gustav Drake is drawninto a conspiracy against the regency, his fate becomes bound up with witchtrials, high-seas adventure, and a love that puts everything at risk.

The novel weaves together two dark threads of the age: a secret plot amongthe Swedish nobility to overthrow the council of state, and the witch trialsthat swept the country, condemning innocent women to burn at the stake. Atthe center of the second thread stands the fanatical priest Suenonius —described by Swedish critics as one of the most frightening clerical figuresin all of Swedish literature.

Freebooter of the Baltic is grounded in real history. The real Gustaf Drakepreyed on Baltic shipping between 1657 and 1663. Councillor Skytte and hisdaughter Maria appear as characters. The conspiracy and the witch trials aredrawn from documented events in seventeenth-century Kalmar County.

Viktor Rydberg's debut novel, first published in 1857, is vivid, suspenseful,and driven by a strong moral current. This translation aims to render itsperiod atmosphere and dramatic force faithfully in English.