Against the backdrop of Continental Europe in the 1860s, in a world where witches, werewolves, and vampires are real, Hoffnungslose Ziele is quintessentially a story about coming of age and confronting the horrors of innocence lost and finding one's way in an often unforgiving world. Four friends from a rural farming village in eastern Prussia-Anna, Christine, Karl, and Gustav-find themselves thrust into the adventure of a lifetime: a dark and at times hopeless journey in which more than one "lost cause" must be taken up, or that which each holds most dear abandoned. The story begins with best friends Anna and Christine dabbling in witchcraft for the protection of Christine's fianc e, Karl, as he is about to enter conscripted military service in the Prussian Army. While Anna's Catholic faith is being tested, however, a more sinister trial awaits: a 300 year old vampire takes an unhealthy interest in her. As her friends begin a desperate search, they meet various friends and foes along the way-including a mysterious demigoddess from the pagan world whose intentions are anything but clear. Hoffnungslose Ziele is written in the epistolary format, offering the first person perspectives of six protagonists as they recount fantastic events and their part in a journey across 19th Century Europe and beyond from each of their perspectives.