Theodor Fontane (1819-98) was born in a small Prussian town and then moved to Berlin. He worked for most of his life as a journalist, and spent many years in London as a foreign correspondent for the Prussian intelligence agency. He began writing novels at the age of fifty-seven, and these works earned him an enduring reputation in German letters. Several of his realist masterpieces are published or forthcoming from Pushkin Press, including No Way Back and Effi Briest.
