Two students in Copenhagen, one born in a prison - the letters O. T. are branded on his shoulder, and they stand for Odense Tugthus, the house of correction - and the shame he cannot outrun through a life of learning and society. Andersen was a cobbler's son who arrived in Copenhagen at fourteen with nothing and was educated at the king's expense; his novels are almost forgotten behind the tales, and this one is about being marked for life. Fifty-six plates of painting from 1762 to 1907, among them works by Edvard Munch and Anders Zorn, carry the story's themes of family, shame, and the mark of origin.
