Siddhartha

This book by Nobel Prize winning author Hermann Hesse inspired a whole generation of those seeking enlightenment in the 1960s and 1970s and is set to do so again in the restless, rebellious age that is the 21st century.

Written in simple beautiful prose, this book is a must for anyone seeking self-knowledge in today's materialistic world.

Word count: 35,200 (tbc).

Nobel Prize-winner Hermann Hesse was born in Calw in the Black Forest, Germany in 1877. His parents were both missionaries. His first novel Peter Camenzind (1904) was a success, but World War I brought him into conflict with rampant German nationalism. In 1923, he traded in his German citizenship for a Swiss passport. Perhaps his most famous books are Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, Narziss und Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game.

Will Aaltonen Pearson ran away from home aged 15 and joined the Royal Navy. Seven years and three world tours later, he won a scholarship to Ruskin Workers' College, Oxford, and from there went on to study French and German at Oriel College. He has been a writer for the best part of thirty years, working in television, newspapers, magazines and books. As 'Will Pearson', he has ghost-written several top ten best-sellers, and published other, non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects. His translations include Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, both for Arcturus Publishing.