To the dismay of both their families Fritz (the future Romantic poet Novalis) decides he's going to marry his 'heart's heat', twelve-year-old Sophie. Working round this historical fact, Fitzgerald draws us into late-eighteenth century Saxony, its extended families, their journeyings to and fro, their aspirations and fears, the intimate texture of their lives. She weaves a kind of magic without a single unnecessary word - I don't know how she does it, but it's truly wonderful!
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 61 Summer 2011 ) |
