THE LIFE OF HIGH COUNTESS GRITTA VON RATSINOURHOUSE

paper 0-8032-9620-7 The Life Of High Countess Gritta Von Ratsinourhouse ($35.00; paper $15; Aug. 23; 154 pp.; 0-8032-4665-X; paper 0-8032-9620-7): Completed in 1845 but not published in full until 1986, this is an agreeable romantic fantasy—the single collaboration of a mother and daughter writing team about a spirited young girl who escapes with 11 companions from a repressive convent school, survives shipwreck, and eventually founds a utopian commune in which women are their own masters. A lively satire on 19th-century German paternalism and a forthright fable of women’s empowerment, this only slightly dated tale is in fact an entertaining and rewarding work, and very much worth rediscovering.