Effi Briest
 Effi Briest is a realist novel by Theodor Fontane. Thomas Mann said that if one had to reduce one’s library to six novels Effi Briest would have to be one of them. Published in book form in 1896 Effi Briest marks both a watershed and a climax in the poetic realism of literature and forms a thematic trilogy on 19th century marriage from a female perspective along with Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary.[citation needed] All three are adultery tragedies.