Summary of The Ropewalker (Between Three Plagues)
“Between Three Plagues” is a series of historical novels about Balthasar Rossow, a humble peasants’ son who became Estonia’s most famous chronicler. Rossow, a historical figure, rose through the ranks to join the German-speaking upper classes of Tallinn and wrote the “Livonian Chronicle” about the 16th-century Livonian War between Russia, Denmark-Norway, Sweden, and Poland-Lithuania (Livonia covered parts of what are now Estonia and Latvia).
Reasons to read The Ropewalker (Between Three Plagues)Â
“Between Three Plagues” was originally written in four parts. It was published in English in three volumes: “The Ropewalker”, “A People Without a Past”, and “A Book of Falsehoods”. This series of novels is an interesting and well-written historical evocation of life in the Baltic States in the sixteenth century, dealing with themes such as moral principles and compromises under foreign rule. Jaan Kross is arguably the most translated Estonian writer of the 20th century. He was imprisoned by both the Nazis and the Communists and spent eight years working in the mines at a Siberian Gulag camp. He received the Baltic Assembly Prize for Literature in 1999 and was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize. He is best known for his historical novels such as the “Between Three Plagues” novels, “The Czar’s Madman”, and “Professor Martens’ Departure”.
Setting: Tallinn (Estonia)
Original title: Kolme katku vahel
Year of publication: 1970-1980
Nr of pages: 544 pages
544 pages for the first part: The Ropewalker
