Tove knows she's a failure, her childhood tailored to a different girl, one who could have used it just fine. She's enchanted by her red-haired friend Ruth, who lives next door and knows all the secrets of the grown-up world. But Tove never truly reveals herself to her or anyone else, because others can't stand 'the songs in my heart and the garlands of words in my soul.' She knows she has a calling and that one day, she'll inevitably have to leave the narrow streets of her childhood. 'Childhood,' the first part of the 'Copenhagen trilogy,' reads like a stand-alone coming-of-age novel. It's a book about growing up, family, friendship, ambition, and purpose, full of emotional insights and irony.