You must know that people are only interested in their own dreams. People in distress are selfish beyond belief. What means something to us, that we can name. In The Blue Flower readers will find a work of fine prose, fierce intelligence, and perceptive characterization.

In Fritz Fitzgerald has discovered a perfect character through whom to explore the meaning of love, poetry, life, and loss. The Blue Flower is a magical book-funny, sad, and deeply moving. Even his unlikely love affair with young Sophie von Kühn makes perfect sense as Penelope Fitzgerald imagines it. Fritz's family-his eccentric father and high-strung mother his loving sister, Sidonie and brothers Erasmus, Karl, and the preternaturally intelligent baby of the family, referred to always as the Bernhard-are limned in deft, sure strokes, and it is in his interactions with them that the ephemeral quality of genius becomes most tangible. A profound exploration of genius, The Blue Flower is also a charming, wry, and witty look at domestic life. In just over 200 pages, Fitzgerald creates a complete world of family, friends and lovers, but also an exhilarating evocation of the romantic era in all its political turmoil, intellectual voracity, and moral ambiguity. This is the story of Friedrich von Hardenberg-Fritz, to his intimates-a young man of the late 18th century who is destined to become one of Germany's great romantic poets. Now she's back with her tenth and best book so far, The Blue Flower. Since then, she's written eight more, three of which have been short-listed for England's prestigious Booker Prize, and one of which, Offshore, won. Penelope Fitzgerald wrote her first novel 20 years ago, at the age of 59.

The blue flower fitzgerald