mo·tif
/mōˈtēf/
noun
a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.
“The great search for a little happiness, is this novel’s delicate motif”
It was a beautiful day outside, and I walked down to the Capitol Hill light rail station for a run up to the bookstores in U District.
A translation of the flap text: ” .. the great search for a little happiness, a delicate Fallada motif, which is also echoed in this novel, and lures its hero, the adventurous young master von Strammin, on a journey into the unknown”.