Dreams and nightmares take Hedda to hell and back.The combined forces of opium and pain brings her face to face with her life. From rural Sweden in late nineteenth century, over Silkeborg to the Danish Capital, and during the Great War, she experiences love and loss, poverty and betrayal.Hedda gives up everything to win independence. She soon discovers that this is one thing to wish for, but … wish for, but another to achieve. Life handles her roughly, but can she develop strength of character? Will she pay for her freedom in ways she doesn’t anticipate?
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Against the Tide
Throughout HM Holten’s ‘Snares and Delusions,’ I wore my heart on my sleeve as I empathized with her protagonist, Hedda Gullberg (West), who wades against the tide of social mores at the turn of the twentieth century.
Whereas the reader first gets a glimpse of Hedda’s tenacity on the brink of death, rocking back and forth on the floor of a hospital in Copenhagen in 1936, her dreamlike delusions bring us to the beginning of her trials and tribulations.
Born in May of 1865, Hedda’s childhood and adolescence may very well have been the best years of her life, despite an ill-fated love. Then, there’s her sister and father contemplating the monetary gains of marrying her off to a boorish simpleton.
Through twists of fate, bouts of homelessness, marriage to an abusive husband with congenital syphilis who is of the prevailing opinion of the times that women have a soul but no intelligence—she perseveres. Carrying and caring for a child born out of wedlock to a married man, she makes her way in the world yet again.
The story is told impeccably: well-written, infused with history and its impact, period dialogue, and finely-drawn characters—especially Hedda.
Apropos for the last scene in the novel, Hedda makes her way toward the beach. She finds a spot and rocks back and forth, contemplating her life of snares and delusions, grateful for surviving the tides against her.
I highly recommend this literary masterpiece which, for this reader, elicited more tears than smiles.
This is a captivating historical tale set in the late nineteenth century.
Beautiful, headstrong, wilful Hedda, growing up in rural Sweden is a disappointment to her father and sister Minna, who consider her to be a burden. They make arrangements for Hedda to be married off and thus absolving them of the drain on their finances; only things don’t go according to plan.
Without a second thought, Hedda steps up to care for her father. She effortlessly takes charge of organising the home as well as run the family business – until Minna returns with her betrothed in tow. The pair are determined to take up the reigns and thus poor Hedda is resigned to the fact that her arranged union is back on. Only this time, however, she manages to make her escape.
This is an incredible tale of strength, courage and love that is beautifully written. Five stars? I’d give it ten! Read it for yourself.
A Woman’s Courageous Journey
When I read the first part of this story, called PASSAGE, I was struck with the way in which an elderly woman named Hedda was coping with her impending death. Instead of lying in her hospital bed and feeling sorry for herself, she manages to fall to the floor and crawl over to a wall. When her daughter, Ellie, comes into the room, and sees Hedda kneeling and rocking, Ellie starts to sob. But Hedda tells the younger women not to “mollycoddle” her, that she, Hedda, lives as she chooses to live, even when her death is imminent.
That scene sets the stage for Hedda’s story, a story fraught with hardship and at times, cruelty. Yet Hedda doesn’t give in to the harsh challenges that plague her life. Unlike some who might turn bitter when treated unfairly and with total lack of goodness, she manages to retain a persevering spirit that is giving and generous.
The story also vividly portrays the social mores that women faced during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Those very defined morally acceptable norms severely limited a woman’s rights, including the right to think independently. In this formidable and intimidating climate, Hedda, the protagonist in the story, finds the courage to seek her freedom and build a better life for herself and her child, Ellie.
This is a beautifully written, engrossing story that kept me reading from beginning to the end. Highly recommended for any reader who wants to learn about the strength it takes to hold on to one’s bright spirit in spite of life’s punishing trials.