Product Description

This enchanting novel tells the story of the love affair between Rose-Marie Schmidt and Roger Anstruther. A determined young woman of twenty-five, Rose-Marie is considered a spinster by the inhabitants of the small German town of Jena where she lives with her father, the Professor. To their homes comes Roger, an impoverished but well-born young Englishman who wishes to learn German: Rose-Marie and Roger fall in love. But the course of true love never did run smooth: distance, temperament and fortune divide them. We watch the ebb and flow of love between two very different people and see the witty and wonderful Rose-Marie get exactly what she wants.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195959 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Customer Reviews

A beguiling, unforgettable book - read it!
Rose-Marie Schmidt lives with her father, a Goethe scholar, in the provincial German town of Jena at the turn of the century. Into their narrow life comes Roger Anstruther, a dashing young Englishman ... But it's not a traditional love story by any means. The novel starts with their engagement and Roger's return to England, and is a wonderfully subtle story of betrayal, friendship and the shifting balances of power in any relationship. This is a totally enchanting story, a portrait of a vanished pre-war world but also a tart dissection of relations between the sexes. Possibly also the first and best book written on long-distance relationships.