Louise von François is one of the three major female German-language writers of the nineteenth century, along with Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Her reputation rests primarily on Die letzte Reckenburgerin (1871; translated as The Last von Reckenburg, 1887), one of the most innovative novels of the century. Prominent literary critics and writers of François's era praised it as a classic of the historical novel; the noted man of letters Fritz Reuter kept a copy of Die letzte Reckenburgerin on his desk, while Ebner-Eschenbach proclaimed that she would have exchanged all her works for the honor of having written it. Her other works were lauded for their careful craftsmanship and psychological detail. By the time of her death, however, François had fallen into obscurity; her works remain largely unread, and even Die letzte Reckenburgerin is not part of the academic...