by Eric P. Kelly
When Joseph’s family home is destroyed by enemies, he and his family must flee to Krakow. But why are evil men after them, and who is really behind it? And what is the family secret that is for the king of Poland’s ears alone?
I was pleasantly surprised by this story. It presents an accurate historical account of Poland while maintaining a strong spirit of adventure, mixed with the noble and heroic history of the Krakow trumpeter and the broken note. While I enjoyed reading it, I did have two complaints: 1) the narration occasionally sounds stilted and old-fashioned, and 2) there are multiple places where the narration pauses to explain too much (for instance, about how at that time everyone in Poland was very superstitious) instead of simply showing us and letting us figure it out for ourselves.