Unterm Birnbaum

by Theodor Fontane

"Unterm Birnbaum" by Theodor Fontane is a novella written between 1883 and 1885. Abel and Ursel Hradscheck run a small shop with an inn in a village, burdened by mounting debts. When Abel discovers an old soldier's corpse buried under his pear tree, he devises a dark plan to escape financial ruin. The story follows the psychological unraveling of the couple after committing their crime, as suspicion grows and guilt becomes unbearable in their increasingly haunted home.