Henrik and the Bath Sponge

The great writer, Henrik Ibsen, lives in an apartment in Kristiania with three housekeepers: Gusta, Lina, and Miss Blehr. From his window he looks up to the King’s palace.

Henrik flounders through the snow, eats sandwiches, and splashes in the tub like everyone else. But he still isn’t quite like everyone else – he has a bath tub, not even the King has that!

Inger Marie Kjølstadmyr has worked on the project, Henrik Ibsen’s Writings. There she came across a letter Henrik Ibsen wrote to his wife, Suzannah, which was unusually personal and trivial, for Ibsen. Here he described what must have been the nicest gift he ever received: a both sponge. That letter is the inspiration for this debut.

Illustrated by Åshild Irgens.