Sophie Dorthea Thalbitzer belonged to the well-to-do bourgeoisie in Copenhagen, her father being of German origin. In her Rousseauian memoirs Grandmama’s Bekiendelser, written in 1807, she provides a living portrait of the period and the environment. She describes in detail her comprehensive, open-minded upbringing, also providing a detailed picture of the relationship between the sexes through a series of stories of and letters by suitors and provides a humorous insight into the lack of political and cultural orientation among the educated and well bred members of society in the period around the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
A striking feature of her memoirs is the description of the civilian victims of the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807.