The middle-aged artist Ellen Keldberg was found frozen on a street bench in Skagen in northern Denmark, and now lies laid out on her bed, waiting for a post-mortem. The mystery of her death, and who left her out in the cold, is unravelled by two separate investigations, by the hapless Mikkel, her nephew, and the mysterious Anne Sofie, a dark and anarchic presence. This translation of Petersen's novel Ønskebarnet is by Toby Bainton.