Another book from the 1632 series. This one largely develops a new plot. The arch­duchess Maria Anna of Austria is sent to Bavaria to marry the newly widowed Duke Maximilian, and finds that she’d rather not. She flees Munich in the company of two Grantville women, triggering a major crisis.

The book is en­ter­tain­ing but it’s marred by ob­ses­sive­ly detailing the enormously com­pli­cat­ed re­alpoli­tik of Mit­teleu­ropa. Still, it’s one of the good books in the 1632 series.