THE STORY OF HANS ANDERSEN

Less dramatic in form perhaps than Swan of Denmark (279) this biography of the Ugly Duckling will appeal to an older age group, since the author has penetrated through the fairy tale events to achieve a mature, sympathetic portrait of a vivid personality. Through the story of the early years in Odense, the arrival in Copenhagen, poverty and hope, novels and plays, travels, the fairy stories and finally fame and famous friends, the gentle, naively vain genius of Hans Christian Andersen, flickers, wavers and flames, confident of love, aid from friends and success, shocked by minor failures- which are to him alien unexpected phenomena on the smooth road to success. The author has included accounts of his friendship with Dickens, his meeting with the Grim brothers, and his adoration of Jenny Lind.