Penelope Fitzgerald is a great writer. I've read The Blue Flower, Offshore and The Bookshop. The first two are superb. The Blue Flower is set in Jena in the 18t

Penelope Fitzgerald is a great writer. I've read The Blue Flower, Offshore and The Bookshop. The first two are superb. The Blue Flower is set in Jena in the 18th century - a place which was as culturally influential as Palo Alto today. It goes well with Magnificent Rebels, the fun gossipy history of the German romantics who hung out there.