He doesn’t end up doing it, but it changes his perspective on his writing and his motives. He sees a man one night who looks so happy and he realizes he does not feel this way, which gives him a strong desire to run away to sea. The Young Man with a Carnation was about a writer staying in Belgium who is afraid he can’t keep up the esteem he has built up for his writing and is only doing it for his ego.

The Sailor- Boy’s Tale was about a boy who one day saves a peregrine falcon on his ship, only to find out later on that it was actually a shape shifting Lapp woman ( I believe the proper term for them now are the Sami people) who does him a favor in return. There wasn’t one bad story in the whole collection! I enjoyed them all. In various places in Europe and Scandinavia. These stories all had a folktale feel to them. She is truly a wonderful writer and storyteller. I had previously read the author’s memoir about her time in Africa, Out of Africa and was excited to read her fiction. This was a very enjoyable collection of short stories. Many of the love interests have such longing between them but nothing ever gets consummated so to speak. Whether it’s to escape somewhere else or of love. An undertone of longing seems to be present in most of the stories. They’re all set in the 19th century with the exception of a couple stories. However none of them are set in the 20th century. These tales were written and published during the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II, which can be felt sometimes in the tone of these stories. Winter’s Tales is a short story collection written by the Danish writer Karen Blixen ( also known as Isak Dinesen) and published in 1942.

Isak dinesen short stories