Pilgrimage

Johan Bojer was one of Norway’s greatest writers, nominated five times for the Nobel Prize. His 1924 novel, A Pilgrimage, is on the surface the tale of the difficulties faced by Regina, a young unmarried mother in Norway whose son was given to another couple at birth, and her maternal love for her lost child. Beneath, however, is the darker story of a lifelong obsession with the life and child she never had. After leaving the lying-in hospital, Regina takes a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy widower in Sweden, marries him, and becomes pregnant with his child. Despite her wealth and the kindness of her husband, however, she cannot escape the dreams of the son she surrendered, and her obsession gradually and ultimately consumes her. - Summary by Tom Shoesmith