This is a compelling novel based on the life of poet Lou Salome - protege of Nietzsche, lover of Rilke and muse to Freud - that brilliantly evokes the Sturm and Drang of turn-of-the-century Europe. An old hatbox of memories, an inscribed volume of Rilke"s poems, and a deathbed promise - so begins a young woman"s quest to uncover the truth about Lou Salome, infamous literary muse and poet. From a secluded winter retreat, a writer named Julia plumbs the mysteries of Lou"s remarkable life, unearthing clues to several long-lost secrets. Taking the famous muse as her own, Julia imagines Lou"s tale unfolding through the three major loves of her life: At age twenty-one she meets the smitten Friedrich Nietzsche; at age thirty-eight she takes Rainer Maria Rilke as her first lover; and at fifty she befriends Sigmund Freud. The cast of characters includes the Wagners, Tolstoy, Rodin, the Freud circle, Marlene Dietrich, and Hitler, among many others. Weaving together themes of memory, religious faith and the tensions between intellect and passion, Angela von der Lippe"s stunning literary debut reveals the richness of an extraordinary woman from an all but vanished time.