First published 2014
Friedrich von Hardenberg paces the corridors of his family home, preparing to ask his father for permission to marry. The request will shock everyone who knows him. Fritz, a brilliant philosophy student destined to become the Romantic poet Novalis, has fallen deeply in love with Sophie von Kühn, a simple twelve-year-old girl. His family and friends cannot understand the attachment. How could their gifted Fritz choose such a plain, unremarkable child as his bride? Set in the world of Goethe's Germany, among the small towns and grand universities of the late eighteenth century, the story follows Fritz as he pursues this bewildering love. His passion defies all logic and social expectation. Sophie becomes his "heart's heart" and "spirit's guide," transforming from an ordinary girl into something transcendent through his devotion. The novel explores how love makes no rational sense, how it can elevate the mundane into something extraordinary, and how knowing one's destiny brings unexpected clarity.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Germany
Period: Late 18th Century
282 pages · Paperback · Harper Paperbacks