The Blue Star

Fletcher Pratt’s The Blue Star is a classic fantasy of witchcraft, revolution, romance, espionage, and political intrigue set in a richly imagined alternate Europe resembling the eighteenth century. Rodvard Bergelin, a young government clerk and secret member of a revolutionary organization, is ordered to win the confidence of Lalette Asterhax, a hereditary witch whose mysterious blue star gives her lineage a rare and dangerous power. What begins as a political mission soon becomes a struggle involving forbidden magic, revolution, betrayal, escape, and conflicting loyalties as Rodvard and Lalette become entangled in forces far greater than either anticipated. First published in 1952 in the anthology Witches Three and later issued as a standalone novel in 1969, The Blue Star presents a distinctive world in which witchcraft has developed into a genuine discipline while physical science has remained comparatively primitive. Combining alternate history with fantasy, romance, adventure, and political conspiracy, Pratt’s novel is a memorable work of twentieth-century fantasy for readers drawn to imaginative parallel worlds, magical societies, revolutionary intrigue, and classic adult fantasy.