Goethe and Schiller: An Historical Romance

Two poets. One desperate winter. A friendship that would reshape German literature. This is the story of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, the two towering figures of Weimar classicism, told with all the emotional intensity the Victorian historical romance could muster. The novel opens on Schiller in his grim rented room, burning the candle of his fragile health at both ends, writing to escape the crushing poverty and illness that beset him. A watchman calls out in the night, urging the young poet to rest. He does not rest. The struggle between artistic idealism and material misery defines every page. When the celebrated Goethe encounters this desperate young man, he sees something that will outlast them both. What follows is the forging of a legendary friendship amid the intellectual ferment of late 18th-century Germany, as revolution simmers abroad and the fires of artistic creation burn within two men who refuse to let poverty silence their voices. Mühlbach writes with romantic fervor of the sacrifices great art demands, and the rare souls who recognize genius before the world catches up.