The publication of “Jörn Uhl” some twenty years ago made Gustav Frenssen world-famous. Jörn Uhl is the son of a farmer in Northern Germany. Gifted with a deep, spiritual nature, he is forced from the age of twelve to apply himself to the tasks of a hard countryside and to lay aside his yearning for a finer truth for himself than his church affords. The story assumes a Job-like character; misfortune after misfortune besets him, until a final series of blows leaves him bereft and alone. But ruin proves his salvation: relieved from the burden of a family and a poor estate, he is enabled to pursue a new way which leads him to happier things, The tale is told so simply, and the peasant life depicted so vividly, that “ Jörn Uhl” takes its place among the most moving of stories in any language.