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The Wise Virgins

In these three stories, Sigrid Undset addresses relationships that are relevant to readers regardless of time: man and woman, mother and child. She paints an honest, unvarnished picture of life and of people, but underneath the almost brutal honesty lies real warmth and compassion for her fellow human beings.

Little Girls is a gem of a children’s story; cheerful and melancholy at the same time, it is the story of two best friends which also contains a lyrical description of Kristiania in the years prior to the Great War.

Thjodolf is the moving and upsetting story of Helene Johansen’s love for the little boy she has taken under her wings, but then has to send away – one of Sigrid Undset’s finest portrayals of a mother’s love for her children.

Gunvald and Emma tells the story of a sturdy and reliable worker in Kristiania and his marriage to two different women, as dissimilar as night and day. Klara, who is the first, is a lively, warm woman, but careless and irresponsible, while Emma is the perfect image of the good and faithful mother an wife.

First published: 1918

Sigrid Undset: Biography and bibliography

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