The tale includes mysterious bandits, counterfeiters, poisoners and murderers, plus portraits of Hungarian and Romanian peasant life in the later 1800s. Jokai rises to the sort of breathless excitement produced by Dumas.

Mor Jokai – also known as Maurus Jokai – was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. He originally studied law and became an advocate in what is now Budapest. Encouraged by the reception of his first play, The Jewish Boy, he turned to writing, producing Working Days, and becoming editor of Eletkepek, the leading Hungarian literary journal. Following a revolution and the deposition of the Hapsburg dynasty, he became a political suspect. He spent the next fourteen years reviving the Magyar language, producing thirty romances and numerous other works. After the re-establishment of the Hungarian Constitution, he sat in parliament for twenty years, founded and edited the government organ Hon, and was later elevated to the upper house by the king.