A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears

A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears follows the young prince Roger, who haphazardly sets out on a quest to prepare himself to become king. The book expresses the emotions of various individuals through two long-lost lovers reunited, several unlikely couples marrying, and a friend-turned-evil's attempts for revenge. While Roger himself starts out as pure and innocent, he seems somewhat naive and incapable of feeling serious.

The quest, which contains plenty of sad events, gradually brings Roger to a point where he still is humorous, but is caring about specific individuals as opposed to finding shallow humor in everything. The beautiful Princess Petulia, and her servant, likewise, find similar changes in personality through their experiences, as they go from being bitterly indifferent to loving and plainspoken to kinder respectively.

• Feiffer, Jules (1995). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-205099-1.
• Feiffer, Jules (1995). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-205098-4.
• Feiffer, Jules (1998). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-205926-0.
• Feiffer, Jules (2001). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. Prince Frederick: Recorded Books, LLC. ISBN 978-1-4025-1961-1.
• Feiffer, Jules (2001). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. Prince Frederick: Recorded Books, LLC. ISBN 978-0-7887-5344-2.
• Feiffer, Jules (2001). A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears. Prince Frederick: Recorded Books, LLC. ISBN 978-0-7887-5376-3.
• Feiffer, Jules (2003). Der Fluch Des Lachens. München: Omnibus. ISBN 978-3-570-21081-9. (German language)

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