The novel by Sigrid Undset (1882–1949), a famous Norwegian writer and Nobel Prize winner in literature, tells about Norway at the end of the 18th century. The reader meets the heroine of the novel, the wife of a glass factory manager, at the most tragic moment of her life - Dorthea’s husband dies, and she finds herself alone with seven children in her arms. The novel is rightfully considered one of the most interesting historical works in Norwegian literature. It is published in Russian for the first time.