The Jew's Beech: Annette von Droste Hülshoff (Alma Classics 101 Pages)

Based on a true story The Jew's Beech centres on two brutal murders in rural Westphalia - the first of a local forester and the second of a Jewish moneylender near a beech tree - and the impact these events have on the life of Friedrich Mergel a local herdsman with a turbulent family history. A prototype of the murder mystery and a thoughtful examination of village society this intriguing novella contains hints of the Gothic and the uncanny - ominous thunderstorms mysterious disappearances eerie doppelgängers and grisly discoveries in the depths of the forest - as well as a famously ambig uous climax.