Tove Ditlevsen's position as a writer was unusual for a Danish author. From the moment that her first book was published, shortly before the German occupation of Denmark in 1940, she attracted the attention of readers and the media--both the newspapers and the tabloids. The interest of reporters in Ditlevsen remained unabated, partly because she was always ready to answer their calls--if she did not call on them first--and partly because she never hid from the world that she had great personal problems. She talked about her problems openly, never concealing that she had been a drug addict, that she had attempted suicide, that she wanted to be married but at the same time could not bear it--in short, that her life was anything but perfect. She was willing to reveal much about herself, without resorting to histrionics, and her increasingly ravaged face showed what toll her life had...