In this novel about music, love, and creativity, Hermann Hesse weaves a tale of loss and redemption. Kuhn, the sensitive narrator, disabled in an accident as a young man, has become a renowned composer. He is drawn to a beautiful, mysterious singer named Gertrude and becomes engulfed in an enduring passion for her. But because he fears her sympathy, he ends up losing her to his friend and singer, Muoth. Kuhn becomes inextricably involved in their ill-fated marriage and is almost destroyed -- but eventually he finds his redemption through his art and the completion of his opera.