Bertha Holst (1881–1929)

Bertha Holst was born Bertha Hall, the daughter of an unmarried Norwegian father and Swedish mother. She spent her earliest years in orphanages. At age four, she was adopted by Alfred Holst, a land agent, and his wife Nicoline Sophie Bang, a sister of author Herman Bang. Her writing as an adult was noted for her ability to represent children's thoughts and feelings, including a child's experience of feeling unloved and abandoned. After her adoptive father died, she and her mother moved to Copenhagen, where they shared an apartment with Herman Bang. Bertha became a teacher working in Rørvig and Frederikshavn until about 1907, when she contracted tuberculosis and had to spent time in a sanatorium. During this period of enforced inactivity, she wrote many letters and discovered her talent for writing. She began writing her first book, Vingeslag, a novel published in 1908. The same year, she also published the first of many books for children and young adults, Gemini. Her books were highly popular and often ran to numerous editions.