{"product_id":"the-blue-flower-9780544359451","title":"The Blue Flower","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eA NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER in Fiction. Booker Prize-winning novelist Fitzgerald's crowning literary work centers on the 18th-century German poet and philosopher Novalis and his love for the simple Sophie.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Blue Flower\u003c\/em\u003e is set in the age of Goethe among the small towns and great universities of 18th-century Germany. It tells the true story of Friedrich von Hardenberg, a passionate, impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the romantic poet Novalis. Fritz seeks his father's permission to wed his \"heart's heart,\" his \"spirit's guide\"--a plain, simple child named Sophievon Kühn. It is an attachment that shocks his family and friends. Their brilliant young Fritz, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard? How can this be?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir rationality of love, the transfiguration of the commonplace, the clarity of purpose that comes with knowing one's own fate-- these are the themes of this beguiling novel, themes treated with a mix of wit, grace, and mischievous humor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An extraordinary imagining . . . an original masterpiece.\"--\u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An astonishing book...Fitzgerald's greatest triumph.\"--\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePENELOPE FITZGERALD (1916-2000) was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. She won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction for \u003ci\u003eThe Blue Flower, \u003c\/i\u003e the Booker Prize for \u003ci\u003eOffshore, \u003c\/i\u003e and three of her novels -- \u003ci\u003eThe Bookshop, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gate of Angels, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Beginning of Spring\u003c\/i\u003e -- were short-listed for the Booker Prize.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Harper Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50619204600082,"sku":"9780544359451","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4e3aece1-b3cc-4ffd-9fe2-181a37384989.jpg?v=1732546552","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-blue-flower-9780544359451","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}