"A personification of divine forgiveness."-Jill P. May
"From American history books to Pirates of the Caribbean, the work of
Howard Pyle continues to captivate us..."-Big Think
"...it has a significant, universal theme, and it presents the details
of daily life in Germany of the thirteenth century accurately and
unobtrusively, making the period real and alive."-Malcolm Usrey
"He is as careful and painstaking and artistic with his children's books
as the very best novelist are with their novels...But best of them all
is Pyle's Otto of the Silver Hand. It is a story of German chivalry in
the days of the robber barons."-Willa Cather
Otto of the Silver Hand (1888), Howard Pyle's first novel for
children, is a grim yet empowering narrative of medieval Germany,
following the adventures of a young hero caught between the power
struggles of two families. With its gripping battle scenes, romance, and
villainous warlords, this is a reading experience that continues to
thrill over one hundred years after its initial publication.
Otto, a gentle boy born to a noble germanic family in the middle ages,
has been raised in the compassionate seclusion of a monastery to protect
him from the violent rivalries of his family. When the boy turns twelve
years old he is retrieved back to Drachenhausen, his ancestral castle to
begin his training in knighthood. Soon Otto discovers that his father,
the Baron Conrad, a brutal robber baron, is in the midst of a savage
vendetta with his the family of his slain foe, the Baron Fredrick. When
Otto's father and his knights are summoned to the Imperial Court the
Fredrick clan attacks Castle Drachenhausen, burns it to the ground, and
kidnaps the boy. Baron Henry, the heir of Fredrick's clan, keeps Otto in
the dungeon of his own fortress. Until his father arrives to rescue him,
Otto experiences both terrible brutality and the gentle affections of
Henry's beautiful daughter. Through Otto's ordeals and suffering he
recognized the deficiencies of the human character, yet he rose above
the wickedness with his gentleness and love.
With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Otto of the Silver Hand is both modern and readable.
