The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl is a novel by American writer David Ebershoff, published in 2000 by the Viking Press in the United States and Allen & Unwin in Australia. Summary The novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, one of the first transgender women to undergo sex reassignment surgery. The Danish Girl, as Ebershoff stated, does not try to tell a true story. He has not only imagined most of what he wrote about Elbe's inner life, but he has also fabricated all of the other characters in the book, most important among them Wegener's blue-blooded American-born wife, Gerda Wegener. The story takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Lili (then going as Einar) is happily married to her wife, Gerda Wegener. Lili was raised with her best friend Hans. Gerda was raised in California with her twin brother Carlisle. She eventually moved to Denmark, first meeting Lili at the Royal Academy before unfortunately separating due to World War I. During their separation, Gerda marries another man and has a child, with the child unfortunately dying at birth and her husband dying of tuberculosis. Gerda moves back to Denmark and marries Lili, the couple becoming painters with Lili painting mostly landscapes and Gerda painting portraits.