THE BLUE FLOWER

Penelope Fitzgerald

In eighteenth-century Germany, the impetuous student of philosophy who will later gain fame as the Romantic poet Novalis seeks his father’s permission to wed his true philosophy — a plain, simple child named Sophie. The attachment shocks his family and friends. This brilliant young man, betrothed to a twelve-year-old dullard! How can it be? A literary sensation and a bestseller in England and the United States, The Blue Flower was one of eleven books- and the only paperback- chosen as an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times Book Review. The 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner in Fiction.

1996 Shortlist

1996 Longlist

Previous winners

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