Andreas Hofer

The novel opens with Andreas Hofer, a devout Tyrolean, pausing to pray with a crucifix held against his chest. He voices a long-cherished hope: that he will live to see Austrian colours raised again on the border markers and that the people of Tyrol can return to a loyal devotion to Emperor Francis as their rightful ruler.

Mühlbach's book is a historical novel about Hofer, the innkeeper from the Passeier valley who became the leader of the Tyrolean rising of 1809 against the Bavarian and French authorities that governed his homeland. The story places his faith, his patriotism and his fierce attachment to the Habsburg crown at the centre of a turbulent period in the Alpine region.