Heinrich Mann's "The Goddesses" tells the story of the Duchess of Assy, who dedicates her life successively to freedom, beauty, and love. She is an extraordinary woman, a self-indulgent player who experiences the tale of love and unfulfilled longing unconditionally and passionately, always ready to try something new until her last breath. She leads an unbound, pagan-sensual adventurous life yet longs only to not be alone. "The Goddesses" turns 100 years old. Birgit Vanderbeke writes a foreword for the new edition. Birgit Vanderbeke writes: "The book was kept at home in the poison cabinet. When I borrowed it from there without permission, I quickly realized: that’s where it belonged. It was as rich as buttercream cake, wonderfully indecent, and it made one feel as tipsy in the head as after Amaretto, which was also forbidden.".