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 ambiguous climax.
