The fact that this is an unfinished novel does nothing to diminish its value to the reader. It starts as a coming-of-age story of a young Austrian girl, Clarissa, daughter of a strict and cold general who never shows any love towards her or her brother. Only as she grows up she manages to learn about emotions and how they can be used, experiences and expressed. Clarissa is talented, and soon finds work with a Jewish professor, as his assistant. He sends her to replace him at some symposium in Switzerland, and then she meets a French teacher. They gradually get to know each other and become closer. Clarissa learns to open her heart to another human being, and experiences love for the first time in her life. But then WWI breaks out, and the two have to separate. Clarissa decides to become a nurse, where she is overwhelmed by the number of wounded and the amount of suffering war inflicts upon people. Her lover is far away, maybe fighting for his country. She has no way of knowing. I don't want to spoil the rest of the book, so I won't say anymore about the plot. But the writing... oh, the writing! It is as superb as they come. It is profound and psychologically accurate, and there were parts where I had to mark almost every other sentence since they were all so perfect and insightful. Zweig is soon becoming one of my favorite authors.