his was one of Andersen's non fairytale works and seemed very mediocre. It was the story of Elisabeth, who loses her mother at birth and is "adopted" by a rich Baroness who expels her from her home as a very young girl for some trivial, petty infraction. The story continues until Elisabeth is married. The story takes place in Denmark during the 19th century. The story is probably about a 4, however, the story construction of writing ahead and then back-filling kept this reader always wondering what the heck was going on, netted it a 2. Therefore, my final rating is 3. I struggled to finish this novel. 370 pages. The ebook copy did not figure into my rating, but it was abominable with sections of pages out of order and obvious word insertions not in the same font as the original. ( )

This is the life story of Elisabeth, from birth to marriage, set in the first half of the 19th century in Denmark. She is taken care of by an excentric old baroness first, who suddenly disowns her, finds refuge with a pastor an a lonely "hallig", and aged fourteen learns that her childhood friend has been sentenced to death for a murder. She decides to petition the king for mercy and sets out for Copenhagen, where she meets old and new friends.
Andersen tells his story at first in short little scenes, jumping ahead in time, telling back stories for some characters, until Elisabeth is old enough to be the main focus. It is full of wonderful descriptions of the different landscapes, changing seasons, love of literature and music. ( )