Lapsuus

If I didn't know this was part of a trilogy, I would probably complain that this lyrical and concise novella/memoir was too slim and that I wanted to spent more time with little Tove, who's too wise for her age and learns too fast that her dreams don't fit into this world. She grows up in a Copenhagen that's still hurting and impoverished after WWI and the Spanish flu. Her mother is very cold towards her, and while her father shows her the occasional kindness he laughs at her when she proclaims that she wants to become a female poet. So she learns to hide herself and her aspirations, and only finds solace in the magic of words.