In these two novellas and three short stories for adult readers, Hans Christian Andersen displays the imagination and descriptive brilliance familiar from his fairy tales, but turns his eye to subtler social themes: class mobility in a changing Europe; the unfairness with which talents and opportunities are meted out in this world; the struggle between nature's claims on humanity and civilization's.The title novella, The Ice Virgin, unites all these ideas in a piece of beautifully structured storytelling considered by some to be Andersen's masterpiece. Rudy is orphaned young, rescued as an infant from a glacial crevasse where his mother fell and died. He lives, but the stunning yet unforgiving mountain landscape of Switzerland may yet claim him. His love for the rich miller's daughter Babette brings out all his bravery and ingenuity - but also his stubbornness and resistance to change. In a masterfully ambivalent climax Andersen makes us wonder what happiness and fulfilment truly mean.Elsewhere in the collection Andersen turns his gaze to the hostile shores and wooded heights of Denmark's Jutland, where in his time submissive poverty was giving way to feverish social transformation. We meet a shipwrecked youngster struggling to fit into his adopted community, a couple whose wise humility echoes down the wealthy generations that follow with comically unexpected effects, and a steadfast friend whose saintly patience is ill rewarded by the object of her loyalty. Full of irony, enchanting imagery and bravura prose, these stories showcase Andersen's perceptiveness, empathy, and deep engagement with the world around him.



Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman. His father died when he was eleven. He left home for Copenhagen at the age of fourteen and immediately made an impression on the capital's artistic community with his precocious literary talent. He gained sponsorship from the Danish elite and received an education and the opportunity to travel widely throughout Europe. He became one of world literature's most beloved children's authors, celebrated in his lifetime and ever after, and lending his name to the world's most prestigious children's literature prize. As well as his famous fairy stories he wrote novels, novellas, plays, travelogues, autobiographies and verse for readers of all ages.