Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard

Book excerpt: From the author of the timeless classic Out of Africa: five hauntingly evoked, sensuously realized stories and a novella “that belong in that special realm in which artistry is more real than reality” (TIME). • Ehrengard is soon to be a Netflix Film. “Dinesen’s stories are the work of a writer with a powerful imagination and a shrewd intelligence.” —The New York Times Book Review In the classic “Babette’s Feast,” a mysterious Frenchwoman prepares sumptuous feast for a gathering of religious ascetics and, in doing so, introduces them to the true essence of grace. In “The Immortal Story,” a miserly old tea-trader living in Canton wishes for power and finds redemption as he turns an oft-told sailors’ tale into reality for a young man and woman. And in the magnificent novella Ehrengard, Dinesen tells of the powerful yet restrained rapport between a noble Wagnerian beauty and rakish artist.