This 1816 story is perhaps best known as the basis for Tchaikovsky's popular ballet, but Hoffmann's holiday legend is where the spell begins. Here is the original tale of seven-year-old Marie and her beloved Nutcracker, beset by a dark mystery that surrounds this story within a story.
Godpapa Drosselmeier, who once served as the royal court's inventor, recounts to Marie a tale of the trickery of Dame Mouserink, the Queen of Mice. The vengeful queen casts a curse on an innocent princess, forcing Drosselmeier to undertake an arduous quest to break the spell. His mixed success leads to the lasting enmity between the Nutcracker and seven-headed Mouse-King -- Dame Mouserink's son -- a conflict that only Marie can help resolve.
One of the world's greatest fantasy writers and a major figure in late German Romanticism, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) created extraordinary works of poetry and supernatural fiction. In tales like The Nutcracker, Hoffmann's characters come to vivid life in settings that move from the firm ground of reality to a world of enchantment, mystery, and romance.

• We started tracking this book on November 10, 2018.
• This book was £2.20 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 39 times in the past 1,987 days.
• The current price of this book is £1.49 last checked one day ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past six months.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £1.42.
• The lowest price to date was £1.42 last reached on November 14, 2022.
• This book has been £1.42 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £2.34 last reached on March 14, 2020.
• This book has been £2.34 one time since we started tracking it.

• Literature & FictionLiterary Fiction
• Literature & FictionMythology & Folk TalesFairy Tales
• Literature & FictionGenre FictionHolidays
• Literature & FictionClassicsClassics

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled