Gertrud von le Fort came into her own as a writer in the 1920s, when she was middle-aged and on the verge of converting to Catholicism. Her fame was at its height during the decade preceding the Nazi takeover and during the post World War II period. Her principal literary achievements lie in the areas of the historical tale, poetry, and the essay. She is not widely read today; her works, firmly rooted in the intellectual concerns, literary themes, and style of nineteenth-century Germany, appear dated. Literary historians group her with other traditional authors who combined historical interest with contemporary religious "engagement": Werner Bergengruen, Reinhold Schneider, and Edzard Schaper.

Gertrud Augusta Lina Elsbeth Mathilde Petrea, Freiin (Baronness) von le Fort was born on 11 October 1876 in Minden, the first of three children of Major Lothar Friedrich Franz Peter, Baron von le Fort and Elsbeth Karoline Therese von Wedel-Parlow. Her...