The Blue Flower, Penelope Fitzgerald
The Blue Flower, Penelope Fitzgerald
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The Blue Flower

Author: Penelope Fitzgerald, Candia McWilliam

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 6 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/02/2015

Synopsis

The Blue Flower is set in the age of Goethe, in the small towns and great universities of late eighteenth-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 Sophie von 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?The irrationality 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.

About Penelope Fitzgerald

Penelope Fitzgerald (1916–2000) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, and biographer who embarked on her literary career at the age of fifty-eight and later earned much popular and critical acclaim, winning a Booker Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award.

About Candia McWilliam

Candia McWilliam was born in Edinburgh. She is the author of A Case of Knives, which won a Betty Trask Prize, A Little Stranger, Debatable Land, which was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize and its Italian translation the Premio Grinzane Cavour for the best foreign novel of the year, and a collection of stories Wait Till I Tell You.

About Derek Perkins

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ilse

The dream of the blue flower What means something to us, that we can name. People in distress are selfish beyond belief. You must know that people are only interested in their own dreams. The Blue Flower is a delectably rich, multi-layered novel, as some of the excellent reviews (see here, here, here, h......more

Goodreads review by Alexandra

A gorgeous, elliptical book, which I was drawn to by its subject (eighteenth century German philosopher and poet becomes obsessed with unattractive twelve year old girl). I fell in love with The Blue Flower just like Fritz - later known as Novalis - did with Sophie, only the book's positive qualitie......more

Goodreads review by Laura

I've had this on my 'Currently Reading' shelf for ever and ever! I think I was put off by the late 18th century setting and the focus on the poet, Novalis - neither of which are my interest areas, but I've read - 5 or 6 of Fitzgerald's now - and each and every one is Brilliant this one included. This......more

Quotes

“Set in provincial Saxony in the 1790s, this is, on the face of it, Ms. Fitzgerald’s most recondite and challenging book. It is also her greatest triumph…luminous and authentic…An interrogation of life, love, purpose, experience, and horizons.” New York Times

“Fitzgerald presents a brilliant, subtly ironic portrayal of Friedrich von Hardenberg (aka Novalis) as an anti-Pygmalion who takes an unformed, all-too-human girl and fires her into an image of chaste muse…History aside, this is a smart novel. Fitzgerald is alternately witty and poignant, especially in her portrayal of the intelligent, capable women who are too often taken for granted by the oblivious poets. Fitzgerald has created an alternately biting and touching exploration of the nature of Romanticism—capital ‘R’ and small.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Fitzgerald never repeats herself, and her latest novel…is her most original book yet…A little treasure; highly recommended.” Library Journal

“A historical novel that’s touching, funny, unflinchingly tragic, and at the same time uncompromising in its accuracy, learning, and detail: a book that brings its subject entirely alive, almost nothing seeming beyond its grasp.” Kirkus Reviews

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