Description

The Trouble with Happiness is a shortstory collection from Tove Ditlevsen the acclaimed author of the Copenhagen Trilogy never before translated in English

A newly married woman longs irrationally for a silk umbrella a husband chases away his wifes beloved cat a betrayed mother impulsively sacks her housekeeper Underneath the surface of these precisely observed tales of marriage and family life in midcentury Copenhagen pulse currents of desire violence and despair as women and men struggle to escape from the roles assigned to them and dream of becoming free and happywithout ever truly understanding what that might mean

Tove Ditlevsen is one of Denmarks most famous and beloved writers and her autobiographical Copenhagen Trilogy was hailed as a masterpiece on republication in English lauded for its wry humor limpid prose and powerful honesty The poignant and understated stories in The Trouble with Happiness written in the 1950s and 1960s and never before translated into English offer readers a new chance to encounter the quietly devastating work of this essential twentiethcentury writer