The Blue Flower

The Blue Flower is the story of the romance of Friedrich von Hardenberg, later known as the German Romantic poet and philosopher Novalis, with a 12-year old girl, Sophie Von Kuhn. This was British novelist Penelope Fitzgerald's tenth and final book, written in 1995, and it's a good one. In short chapters totaling just 225 pages Fitzgerald manages to evoke an entire era (17th century Germany) from the details of the domestic lives of the Hardenberg and Kuhn families, both members of the impoverished nobility. Friedrich, or Fritz, is immediately smitten at first sight by the silly and seemingly dull-witted child, Sophie. He determines to marry her against the advice of friends and family. It's a simply written story of a doomed relationship that ends tragically. The only levity is injected through Fritz's precocious young brother, The Bernhard. It's very readable and touching and I enjoyed it immensely.