Icon in Love (Hardback)

Goethe, the unquestioned master of German literature. Goethe, the creator of Faust, the first great work of literature in the spirit of modern times. Goethe, the legend. Now, Goethe is re-invented by Eric Koch.

It is October 1992. Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, poet, filmmaker, philosopher of nature, polymath and global celebrity of television and other media is now 73 years of age. He receives a phone call from Stockholm, Sweden, informing him that he has been awarded - at last - the Nobel Prize for Literature.

At first, he is inclined to refuse because the Nobel Prize committee has ignored him for many years. Ulrike von Levetzow, a 19-year-old student in Stockholm, for whom Goethe has a passion, persuades him to accept. Ulrike also happens to be the stepdaughter of the Head of the Homicide Squad. Goethe arrives in Stockholm. It is December.

The Laureate for Medicine, Edward Graziano, confides to him that he has been poisoned: he knows by whom, and why, but he does not identify the murderer. During the awards ceremony Graziano collapses and soon dies. Both Goethe and Ulrike's stepfather frantically search for a solution to the murder.

Many of the characters in this mystery story are modelled on figures in Goethe's life.