Madame Dorthea, a powerful period piece set in eighteenth-century Norway, follows the title character as her happiness and security is thrown into disarray by a sudden and unforeseeable tragedy. In keeping with the creative skill and genius with which she produced the magnificent Master of Hestviken tetralogy (concluded in 1936, three years before the appearance of Madame Dorthea), Undset produces vivid tableaus of the social mores and practices of the time, as well as of the untamed grandeur of her native landscapes, before which unfolds a frank portrayal of the human experience in all its baseness and beauty.