When the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne ascend the scaffold in Paris in 1794 during the horrors of the French Revolution, Blanche de la Force voluntarily follows them to her death. But where does the novice, who has been marked by fear since her birth, find the strength for this act? This question is at the heart of the famous epistolary novella "Gertrud" by Le Fort, one of the masterpieces of German literature in the 20th century.