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Elective Affinities
Elective Affinities
Nov 10, 2025 1:09 AM

Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,R. J. Hollingdale

Elective Affinities

Eduard and Charlotte are an aristocratic couple who live a harmonious but idle life in their estate. But the peace of their existence is thrown into chaos when two visitors - Eduard's friend the Captain and Charlotte's passionate young ward Ottilie - provoke unexpected attraction and forbidden love. Taking its title from the principle of elective affinities - the theory that certain chemicals are naturally drawn to one another - this is a penetrating study of marriage and adultery. Inspired by Goethe's own conflicting loyalties as he battled to maintain his relationship with his wife and control his feelings for a younger woman, Elective Affinities is one of the greatest works of the romance era: a rich exploration of love, conflict, and the inescapable force of fate.

Reviews

Each new novel moves from strength to strength...this series has already established itself as the most significant work of epic fantasy since Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

—— SF SITE

The kind of epic narrative that will have you scrambling for more

—— STEPHEN R. DONALDSON

Erikson is a master of lost and forgotten epochs, a weaver of ancient epics...his books are fantasy for grown-ups, but his war-torn world of constant upheavals reminds one an awful lot of our own

—— SALON.COM

This is true myth in the making, a drawing upon fantasy to recreate histories and legends as rich as any found within our culture

—— INTERZONE

He is the maestro at creating suspense

—— New Statesman

McEwan's exploration of his characters' lives and secret emotions is a virtuoso display of fictional subtlety and intelligence

—— Observer

A virtuoso display

—— Observer

[An] exquisite and suspenseful novel

—— Week

A page-turner, with a plot so engrossing that it seems reckless to pick the book up in the evening if you plan to get any sleep that night

—— Alain de Botton , Daily Mail

Taut with narrative excitement and suspense...a novel of rich diversity that triumphantly integrates imagination and intelligence, rationality and emotional alertness

—— Sunday Times

He is the maestro at creating suspense: the particular, sickening, see-sawing kind that demands a kind of physical courage from the reader to continue reading

—— New Statesman

A novel of rich diversity

—— Sunday Times

From the first page to the last, The Time Traveler's Wife works its unique magic... A beautiful, lyrical book

—— Tony Parsons , The Times

After I read it I wanted to share it with everybody, and even gave a copy to Madonna when she co-presented my show

—— Jo Whiley , Easy Living

Dark, unpredictable, incredibly clever and a modern romance

—— Cecelia Ahern , Grazia

A delight

—— Bookseller

A love affair that will totally capture your heart

—— Glamour Magazine

An irrestible romance

—— InStyle

A beautifully written, compulsive look at a couple trying to live an ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances

—— Image

An intriguing, often funny love story

—— Eve
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