Jenny

Rome's evening streets fill Helge Gram with excitement and loneliness as he explores a city that exceeds his expectations. He watches crowds on the Corso, studies the rooftops and church domes, asks directions in unfamiliar languages, and tries bargaining in a shop. These small encounters establish a novel attentive to the gap between private hopes and immediate experience, with the city's light, buildings, and movement closely tied to Helge's changing feelings.

Jenny Winge, an artist who has spent time with Helge in Rome, appears amid a much tighter social atmosphere in the Gram household. A conversation about studies and kitchens becomes a contest over whose work matters. At supper, a niece's recollection of Jenny dropping her paintbox brings embarrassment, pointed jokes, and jealousy into the room. Readers interested in family tensions and the scrutiny faced by a woman artist will find those pressures expressed through ordinary remarks, strained politeness, and awkward exchanges.