The Little Foundling

The full moon had climbed higher in the sky, shining on the frost-covered ground. The wolf was sitting at the edge of the forest, its eyes resting on her where she stood at the window. The air was alive with the sounds of the forest and something that sounded like a baby crying. The murmur of the trees grew stronger, but the wolf was quiet, only the hum of the wind and the baby crying. A baby crying! How could that be? The sound of footsteps - she was coping less well with her solitude than she'd believed. Hearing things . . . But it was there, the distinctive sound of a baby crying.

Having lived most of her life in London, Leena returns to the house in the Norwegian forest where she grew up to live a simple life away from the clamour of the 21st century. It doesn't work. The wider world that called her away as a young woman still calls out to her some 40 years later. She answers the call and embarks on journeys to some of the most remote corners of the globe.

Margrethe Alexandroni, author of Flight of the Albatross and A Devil's Work and other Stories has also published articles and short stories in English and Norwegian. She is a former Teaching Fellow at the Department of Scandinavian Studies in the School of European languages, Cultures & Society, University College London