First published 2017
In the fading days of the Austro-Hungarian empire, a young cornet named Christoph Rilke rides into battle, his heart torn between duty and his doomed love for the Countess Lichtenstein. As Christoph's regiment marches toward the front, his tender letters to the Countess paint a portrait of a fragile, fleeting romance set against the brutality of war. Rilke's haunting, poetic prose captures the bittersweet ache of love's sacrifice and the tragic ephemerality of life.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, lyrical
Tropes: doomed-love, tragic-romance
Setting: Austro-Hungarian Empire
Period: 20th-century
76 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: death, war