Reading Group

In 1816, forty years after they had last seen each other, Lotte Kestner made a visit to Weimar to see her one-time suitor Wolfgang Goethe, whose hit novel Werther had made them both famous....

In Thomas Mann's hands this re-union between a great writer and his muse becomes a subtle, sparkling and multi-faceted exploration of literary genius and the nature of celebrity. A brilliant feat of historical reconstruction and sympathetic biographical insight, his rich and humane 1940 novel is also a heartfelt reaction to the dark times it was written in, when all that was of value in culture stood in danger of obliteration.