Siddhartha

In the time of the Buddha, a young Brahmin named Siddhartha leaves the comfort of his father's house, certain that wisdom cannot be handed down but must be lived. His search carries him through asceticism with wandering monks, sensual indulgence and wealth in the city, the love of the courtesan Kamala, despair, and finally to the bank of a river where a ferryman teaches him to listen.

Hermann Hesse's luminous novel follows one seeker's lifelong journey toward enlightenment on his own terms, apart from any doctrine. Spare and lyrical, Siddhartha is a meditation on self-knowledge, time, and the unity of all things that has spoken to readers for a century.