The new novel “The Blessed Jesters” by the Englishwoman Joan Harris amazes the reader with the unexpectedness of the plot. Now the events move to France in the 17th century, to the troubled period that followed the murder of King Henry IV of Navarre. Independence and humility, deceit and gullibility, breadth of soul and envy come into conflict on the pages of this fascinating novel, the dramatic and ambiguous outcome of which cannot be foreseen until its most recent pages.