Therese Brummer was a popular and widely-known writer of children’s books, whose family belonged to the National Liberal bourgeoisie, her father, A. L. Casse, being Minister of Justice, her mother, Severine Casse, a well-known champion of women’s rights.
She married into the military bourgeoisie in 1861, had two children, and made her debut under the pseudonym Elisabeth with the publication of the short story collection Smaating, 1864. Like her later novels Som man gifter sig, 1888, and En Kamp, 1893, its central theme is motherhood; the critics, however, failed to see the modern aspects of her adult fiction.