This novel tells the story of Jenny Winge, a talented Norwegian painter. Jenny travels to Rome in search of artistic inspiration but inevitably betrays her ambitions and ideals. Jenny has a baby out of wedlock after having an affair with the married father of a potential suitor and chooses to raise the child on her own. Sigrid Undset's depiction of a woman striving for independence and fulfillment is written with unwavering, clear-eyed honesty, making her story as compelling today as it was nearly a century ago. Undset's writing is captured in this translation in its fresh, and vivid style.