In the Kingdom of Gora, in early 1400s Europe, the King of Gora has assembled a collection of entertainers, scholars, cooks, and others, to care for and educate his young children, the Prince and Princess. Tycho, the children's storyteller, and Samuel, the court jester, are happy in Gora, yet it becomes apparent that the children's cook, Agnieszka, was lured to the castle under false pretenses, and will not be allowed to return to her home city, and her husband and her family.
When the deception is revealed, Agnieszka's friends must decide what to do - assist in her escape and risk death? Or stay quiet, and let their friend remain bound to the castle, far from those she loves?
Close Your Eyes is a meditation on love, and destiny.
In the Kingdom of Gora, in early 1400s Europe, the King of Gora has assembled a collection of entertainers, scholars, cooks, and others, to care for and educate his young children, the Prince and Princess. Tycho, the children's storyteller, and Samuel, the court jester, are happy in Gora, yet it becomes apparent that the children's cook, Agnieszka, was lured to the castle under false pretenses, and will not be allowed to return to her home city, and her husband and her family.
When the deception is revealed, Agnieszka's friends must decide what to do - assist in her escape and risk death? Or stay quiet, and let their friend remain bound to the castle, far from those she loves?
Close Your Eyes is a meditation on love, and destiny.
In the early morning hours of June 1, 1431, the castle of Gora echoed and sounded with the cries of mobilizing soldiers. Preceded by hundreds of horsemen, the soldiers rumbled through the city and fanned into the surrounding countryside. The city populace awoke to the confusion, and meeting in the dark streets, neighbours questioned each other as to the reason for the hysteria. The most widely believed rumour was that forces of the Holy Roman Empire were preparing to attack our King. This caused considerable alarm, for our land had been at peace for nearly two decades, and war was thought of as a terrible plague that existed only in distant, foreign lands.
It was not war which had sent torches blazing and soldiers careening through the night, and though the true reason was known, and often spoken, it was as often dismissed, seeming too inconsequential and unlikely to be the cause of such a disturbance. The truth, which none of those people milling about in the city streets believed, was that the King’s cook and storyteller had fled the castle.
I was found wandering about the castle halls that night, and a party of guards subsequently escorted me to my room. They closed me in and set two watchmen outside the door. Alone in my cell I opened the shutters of my window, leant against the stone wall, stared up at the full moon, and listened to the shouts and cries drifting from the fields and through the city. I knew that I would be unable to sleep, but nevertheless I climbed into bed where I found, to my surprise, a scroll lying hidden amongst the furs and cushions.
I sat up in the darkness and held it reverently in my hands. I knew immediately what it was – my parting gift from the storyteller, from my friend Tycho.
It is now 1435. When I found Tycho’s scroll in 1431 I was illiterate, and it has taken me four arduous years to learn the mysteries of the written word. Reading Tycho’s scroll,which proved to be an infrequently kept journal, and certain other documents which came into my possession, I developed a desire to write the story of my friend, a daunting task, for it is the story of a storyteller.
I spoke to an old and wise friend of my desire to write Tycho’s history. I asked him where I should begin, and he replied “At the beginning.” I pondered this for a few days, then returned to him and asked “Which one?” The old man smiled patiently, answering “My friend, the answer lies within yourself.”
That was a year ago. This business of writing, it is like being cast into a blackened dungeon, with your arms bound behind your back, and then ordered to sound out the dimensions of the room by bashing your head against the walls.
A year, but after so many false starts and counterfeit revelations, I think I have finally understood what my old friend meant.
"L
ove it would seem, requires a crusade - a crusade fought with kindness and generosity, and acclaimed by the joyous bells of a thousand city squares: bells which ring out across blue horizons, telling a continent to close its eyes, to dream beautifully and to wake with hope."
Every now and then, you will come across a book that just makes you feel like sighing with joy and happiness and an eagerness to tell the whole world about it. Close your Eyes by Chris Tomasini is one of those. It reminds you of the pleasure of reading a fairytale, while being thankful that you are an adult and finally understand the deeper meanings behind our beloved fairytales.
This isn't your typical "Once Upon a Time" fairytale. Rather think Canterbury Tales or A Knights Tale with a court jester as our story teller. Samuel wanted to tell the story of his dearest friend, Tycho and being an illiterate, it took him four years to obtain the mysteries of the written word and to finally tell the story of a brilliant storyteller who left the blueprints of our story in scrolls of an infrequently kept journal.
What magical tales sprang from these scrolls! Kings and Queens, princess and princesses, knights in shining armor and loyal to death servants - all on a quest for love in its various forms. The story is narrated with wit and wisdom and reads like a collection of fairytales with fact and fiction, made-up-tales and reality, blending together in a perfect happily-ever-after tale. Once again, do not expect your typical "and they lived happily ever after" ending, as we as adults know - you can only live happily ever after on a day to day basis.
Deep sadness and unhappiness are part of every tale, but what makes this tale worthy of the title of a fairytale, is that hope springs from every ending and by the wonderful life lessons hidden between the pages. Isn't hope, love and wisdom the basis of every fairytale?
It's rather difficult to believe that this book is basically a debut novel for Chris Tomasini. The writing style is superb with the most beautiful prose and symbolism woven into the tale. I do hope that Chris will continue to write, the world can do with more tales like these.