Imaginative and intelligent, Alberta is a misfit trapped in a stiflingly provincial town in the far north of Norway whose only affinity is for her extrovert brother Jacob.

Cora Sandel was one of the most important Scandinavian writers of the 20th century and this is the second volume in her richly acclaimed Alberta trilogy. Alberta Selmer escapes from her cold suffocating provincial life in Norway to seek out the summer riches in a city where the bohemians will never die, where there is absinthe and endless talk of Cubism. But Paris is not all she although she begins to write small pieces for newspapers and periodicals, Alberta's self-esteem is low, and her inexperience makes her prey to the casual approaches of predatory men. Relationships, when they happen, are neither easy nor happy. Feeling her talent beginning to suffer and her freedom stagnating, Alberta faces a struggle to survive. After its publication in 1931, Alberta and Freedom established itself as an immediate classic and Alberta Selmer as one of the century's great anti-heroines.

By one of Norway's most distinguished twentieth century novelists. Alberta, now mistress to Sivert, a Norwegian artist, is living in Paris with their small son. While Sivert is involved in a liaison with a Swedish painter, Alberta falls in love with Pierre, a writer who has just returned from WWI. After a period of conflict, Sivert and Alberta return to Norway, and there Alberta's self- realization becomes complete. With subtlety and insight, Sandel depicts the gradual corrosion of a relationship against the background of the aftermath of the Great War. ""She writes in a low key, with exact domestic detail, unhurried, lucid and sure. The picture she builds up is unforgettable."" - Daily Telegraph.

mass market PB 891pp. Swedish Language