THE CHILDREN

SMÅFOLK – THE CHILDREN

by Elsebeth Egholm

THE FIRST VOLUME in Elsebeth Egholm’s expansive historical trilogy traces one family’s fate against the shifting atmosphere of 1930s Denmark. In 1934, schoolteacher Holger marries the young housekeeper Inga in Brabrand Church, while the first shadows gathering over Europe begin to reach Denmark from the south. Yet Inga is haunted less by politics than by a private grief that has shaped her family for years: How could her five siblings have died at almost the same time just before Inga was born?

DETERMINED TO UNCOVER the truth, Inga begins searching for answers long buried in silence. When she and Holger spend a year in Copenhagen, she encounters a city alive with cafés, department stores, dance halls, and new friendships. At the same time, conversations with a doctor and a nurse gradually draw her closer to the mystery surrounding her family’s past. As Inga pieces together the story of the dead children, she also becomes increasingly aware of the ideological currents spreading through Danish society.

THE CHILDREN is the opening novel in the trilogy Until the End of Time, a richly detailed portrait of Denmark on the brink of profound change. It is based on Egholm’s own family’s history.