Norwegian author and feminist who gave voice to a woman's point of view and is regarded as one of the leading Nordic naturalist writers of her time. She is recognized as one of the early and strong proponents of what has come to be known as the women's movement, setting the early European early trend. Born Berthe Amalie Alver 1846 in Bergen, only daughter to Ingeborg Lovise Sivertsen and Mons Monsen Alver. He parents operated a small business, which went bankrupt when Amalie was 17 years old. Her father emigrated from Norway to the United States to avoid a term of imprisonment and her mother was left with five children to care for. Her mother pressured Amalie into a marriage with the much older August Müller 1864. Following thirteen years of marriage and the birth of two sons (Jacob Worm Müller in 1866 and Ludvig Alver Müller in 1868), she suffered a nervous breakdown in part attributed to his infidelity. After several months at Gaustad Asyl, a mental hospital, she moved in with her brother, Ludvig Alver, in Halden, and later with her brother, Wilhelm, in Kristiania (now called Oslo). In 1882 she was officially divorced from August Müller. It was in Kristiania that she began her literary activities, met the Kristiania Bohemian community, including writers like Arne Garborg and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, with whom she remained in contact for many years. In 1882, she debuted under the name Amalie Müller with "Madam Høiers Leiefolk". In 1884 Amalie Müller married again, this time to Danish writer Erik Skram, and they settled in Copenhagen. They had a daughter, Johanne Skram Rørdam, in 1889. Her obligations as housewife, mother and author, as well as the public's limited acceptance for her then-radical feminist work, led to a further breakdown in 1894, after which Amalie lived in a psychiatric hospital near Roskilde. In 1899 her second marriage was dissolved. Her turbulent marriages are often reflected in her books, such as in "Constance Ring" and "Lucie". Her most famous work is "People of Hellemyr". Pessimism, poverty and brutality are subjects of these novels. A nine hours long theatre performance based on this trilogy became an enormous success in Bergen in 1992. Amalie Skram died in 1905 in Copenhagen, bedridden and miserable. According to her daughter, Johanne, Amalie committed suicide. Her works, which had been generally forgotten with her death, were later rediscovered and received strong recognition. Feeling rejected by her birthplace, she insisted that the following text was engraved on her headstone: "Danish citizen, Danish servant and Danish writer". The grave of Amalie Skrams was lost when her urn was placed in an unpurchased grave by mistake.