THE CONSOLATION OF BEAUTY – A Quest

  • More than 80,000 copies sold!
  • A poignant literary essay by the bestselling author!
  • English sample translation available.
  • More than 100,000 copies sold of her previous Spiegel bestseller!

Embracing the present with open awareness.
Fearlessly accepting what is. Remembering the past as a part of our journey.

Finding comfort. In a world that can be so overwhelming, frightening, and demanding. Finding solace in the experience of beauty because, as Gabriele von Arnim says, it is nothing less than self-preservation. "I need beauty. The consolation of beauty. Because when I see, hear, read, feel beauty, I believe in possibilities. In paths, spaces, somersaults."

Der Trost der Schönheit is a shimmering blend of autobiographical and essayistic storytelling: not a cultural history seeking to confine its subject with theory, but rather a literary search for traces. Gabriele von Arnim explores the forms and effects of what we call beauty, the happiness and dark sides of sensitivity. The search takes us back to childhood, to a girl from a coldly managed home who must first learn to feel in order to perceive beauty in all its finite abundance.

Contact Foreign Rights
Sample Translations
Rights sold to

the Netherlands - Balans I  Russia - Azbooka-Atticus

  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Release: 15.08.2023
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00351-7
  • 224 Pages
  • Author: Gabriele von Arnim

Our covers may only be used free of charge for press, event and promotional purposes in connection with the title or author. In particular, it is not permitted to use the covers in connection with other products, goods or services. The covers may only be reproduced faithfully in their original, unaltered form and must not be edited.

Buchcover von THE CONSOLATION OF BEAUTY – A Quest: Eine Suche
Gabriele von Arnim THE CONSOLATION OF BEAUTY – A Quest
Portrait von Gabriele von Arnim
© Paulina Hildesheim/laif
Gabriele von Arnim

Gabriele von Arnim was born in Hamburg in 1946. She studied, completed her doctorate and spent ten years working in New York as a freelance journalist. She has published several books and lives in Berlin.