SOURCE: Whittaker, Peter. “Scintillating Sage.” New Statesman & Society 9, no. 384 (5 January 1996): 41.

In the following review, Whittaker examines Høeg's use of dream imagery and portrayal of children in The History of Danish Dreams.

Following the surprise success of his meditative thriller Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow and the critical acclaim for Borderliners, the word was that Peter Høeg's first novel—published in Denmark in 1988—was something special. With Harvill's new translation, we have a chance to see if the rumours were correct. The History of Danish Dreams is indeed an astonishingly mature debut. Tracing 400 years of Danish history through the interwoven generations of four families—the Laurids, Baks, Teanders and Jensens—it spans cultural and class divides as well as years with fantastical leaps and swoops.

We begin on the estate of the Morkhoj, where the mad Count (convinced the centre of the world is located on his...