The Three Candles of Little Veronica

In this remarkable story in the Grail tradition, Kyber begins with Veronica’s early youth when she can see beyond the physical appearance of things, and can converse with the hedgehog, the blackbird, and other residents of The Garden of Spirits. Accompanied by her cat Mutzeputz and guided by her wise Uncle Johannes, Veronica grows beyond that innocence and into the life of The House of Shadows, the Baltic town of Halmar, the cursed Castle Irreloh, and the people whose destiny intersects her own.

As the story unfolds, Veronica learns through the playful elemental, Master Mützchen, and Uncle Johannes Wanderer that only a veil separates us from the spiritual world “and it lifts more often than people today believe.” The events of joy and terror in her life lead her to a beautiful reconciliation with this duality and a true grasp of the meaning and mystery of the three candles that mark the turning points in her life. Ages 16 and up.

Manfred Kyber was born in 1880 in Latvia on the Baltic coast that later became the setting for The Three Candles of Little Veronica, his best known work. He attended school in St. Petersburg, and college in Leipzig. Living and working in Germany, his writing includes poems, a novel, plays, and theater criticism; but he was best known for his fairy tales and animal stories. He was a pacifist and advocate of animals' rights. He lived until 1933.

Housatonic Press
ISBN: 978-0-913098-84-4
208 pages  
6 x 8 1/2 inches