NEED HELP: Scandinavian Novel

Hi All,
My mother has been looking for a book for several years and I was wondering if you well-read people could maybe give me a hand in locating it for her. She's been trying to remember tha author and title for some years and hasn't come up with anything.
She originally read the book in the mid-80's, although that doesn't mean it came out around that time, but its not a 'newer' book. She remembers that the title was a woman's name and may have started with a "C" or a "K".
The book itself was about a girl living in Norway who is wooed by a man who tells her that he's very rich, lives in a great home with servants and the like. She eventually agrees to marry him but, when she gets to his house, its a shack out by the sea; he treats her terribly and, I think, she ends up running away to America eventually.
Anyway, the copy she read was an English translation, obviously. I just got accepted to grad school and so will be leaving my teaching job in Alaska shortly, along with the nice pay check that comes with it. I'd really like to buy her a copy of this book as a gift since the poor woman has had to listen to me as I was going through some very rough times the past few years (She's my Mother, I'm sure she was glad to do it; but I still like to do nice things for the ol' babushka from time to time )
I'd really appreciate it if you guys could give me a hand. Thanks!

Nada? shit.

It sounds vaguely like Peter Høeg's The History Of Danish Dreams.

Also, are you sure it was a translation?

Am I sure it was a translation? No, not particularly; all of the information I have is what she once told me while looking for the book at a used bookstore in Madison. She was pretty insistent that it WAS translated, but she read the book in the mid-80's and details can get fuzzy.

Its a funny thing, really. My Mother is a woman who, I hate to say it, doesn't really feel she's that bright. She never went to college and had a miserable time in High School. If you ever told her she was 'literary' she'd look at you like you were stupid.
BUT, and there is always a 'but', isn't there? She's the same person who read, and LOVED, Anna Karina, The Good Earth and so forth; all of those books are you supposed to read in school because you have to. The difference is, is that she read them and loves them; if you mention the Bronte sisters to her, to this day, her eyes sparkle and she gets excited about the books.
I think thats one of the reasons I want to try to track this book down for her. I'm guessing, and I could be wrong, that one of the reasons she remembers this book so much was that it was 'foreign'. To her, the thought that she read a translated 'foreign' book would have been quiet an accomplishment.
*laughs* I suppose its not the usual poster on SG who goes on and on about getting a gift for his ol'mum, but I really can't think of anything better for her right now, and I think it would mean a lot to her. I'm just, sadly, stumped as to where else to look.

Buy her Danish Dreams anyway

Also, try Wikipedia; their categories about authors are quite useful for this (try "Danish authors" and work outward from there). You should be able to rule out some of them quickly - after all, this thing was worth translating

If it's an old book, the Gutenberg Project might have it.