Die Majoratsherren

by Ludwig Achim Arnim

"Die Majoratsherren" by Freiherr von Ludwig Achim Arnim is a novella written around 1818. Set before the French Revolution in a German city, it follows a young heir who returns home after his mother's death but refuses to live in his inherited palace. Instead, he takes a modest room where he secretly observes a young woman named Esther. As hidden family secrets emerge involving murder, betrayal, and greed, the lives of three heirs to the estate become fatally intertwined across multiple narrative layers.