This is a fascinating collection of letters written about our female author's experiences in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark at the time. While the letters were short they were all interesting to read in order to hear more of the author's commentary about each country's culture and her comparisons of these cultures. Usually, we only see men write about culture and travel from this point in history so it is also refreshing to see the woman's perspective on the topic. Though her opinion is more favorable towards Sweden than Norway, so just be prepared for that if you would get annoyed by this.

Also, she was really nice even while she was bringing up the negative parts of a culture. For example while talking about the Norwegian people she wrote "The Norwegians appear to be a sensible, shrewd people, with little scientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they are arriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the arts and sciences." This is the most optimistic and kind negative critic I ever heard in a book exploring different cultures written during this time. At least two of her male counterpoints (Roy Chapman Andrews and D. H. Lawrence) at the time were straight-up insulting and making death threats about the people they met in their books. So while the bar was low for her she still did a great job and earned every star I gave her.

Overall it was an interesting book to read and I recommend it to people who want to feel like they are traveling and learn new things while reading.