The Letter for the King

Sixteen-year-old Tiuri must spend hours locked in a chapel in silent contemplation if he is to be knighted the next day. But as he waits by the light of a flickering candle, he hears a knock at the door and a voice desperately asking for help.A secret letter must be delivered to King Unauwen across the Great Mountains--a letter upon which the fate of the entire kingdom depends. Tiuri has a vital role to play, one that might cost him his knighthood. He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter . . .Tiuri's journey will take him through dark, menacing forests, across treacherous rivers, to sinister castles and strange cities. He will encounter evil enemies who would kill to get the letter, but also the best of friends in the most unexpected places.

Tonke Dragt was born in Indonesia in 1930. At twelve, she wrote her first book (with a friend) while interned in a camp run by Japanese occupiers. Her family moved to the Netherlands after the war. Dragt studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and became an art teacher. She published her first book in 1961, followed in 1962 by The Letter for the King, which has won numerous awards and has been translated into sixteen languages. Dragt was awarded the Dutch State Prize for Youth Literature and was knighted in 2001.