Born in 1859 in Norway, Knut Hamsun is the author of Mysteries, Victoria, The Wanderer, The Women at the Pump, Tales of Loss, and more. Growth of the Soil is his best known novel which sees the wanderer from his earlier tale come to work on the land.

Knut Hamsun's 1904 classic, Mothwise, is set in the remote northern Norwegian trading post of Rosengaard. Ove Rolandsen, telegraph operator, eccentric scientist, and local Casanova, trades wits, fists, and kisses with a host of quirky neighbours. He serenades the curate's wife and fights a drunken giant, but taking on Trader Mack, the town's fish-glue magnate, is a more difficult matter. ' Hamsun] has a magnifying glass on his eye, like a jeweller's.' Robert Bly