The novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, one of the first transgender women to undergo sex reassignment surgery.[1]
The Danish Girl, as Ebershoff stated, does not try to tell a true story. He has not only imagined most of what he wrote about Elbe's inner life, but he has also fabricated all of the other characters in the book, most important among them Wegener's blue-blooded American-born wife, Gerda Wegener.
The story takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Lili (then going as Einar) is happily married to her wife, Gerda Wegener. Lili was raised with her best friend Hans. Gerda was raised in California with her twin brother Carlisle. She eventually moved to Denmark, first meeting Lili at the Royal Academy before unfortunately separating due to World War I. During their separation, Gerda marries another man and has a child, with the child unfortunately dying at birth and her husband dying of tuberculosis. Gerda moves back to Denmark and marries Lili, the couple becoming painters with Lili painting mostly landscapes and Gerda painting portraits.
One day, Anna Fonsmark, a friend of Gerda, cancels her scheduled painting session with Gerda. Gerda, needing to have the painting finished as soon as possible, requests Lili to model as Anna. The session is interrupted with Anna suddenly entering their home, and Anna is the first to give Lili her new name.
Some time later, Lili and Gerda are invited to the annual Artists' Ball, and Gerda convinces Lili to wear a dress again. During the ball, Lili meets a man named Henrik Sandahl, and the two start a short-lived relationship, which Gerda discourages for she fears that Lili might be hurting Henrik by deceiving him.
Lili then starts having many nosebleeds and stomachaches, which leads to Gerda making Lili visit a doctor named Dr. Hexler. Gerda's true intentions however are actually to see if there is a tumor developing in her pelvis, for she believes that if a tumor were indeed there, it might be the cause of the nosebleeds, stomachaches, and psychological problems. Hexler performs an X-ray on Lili and sees that there is no tumor; however, he tells Gerda that he discourages Lili from expressing her femininity.
Gerda starts to paint Lili more often, and these paintings spark popularity for Gerda. In doing so, Lili continues to feel even more confusion with her sense of identity. Later on, Gerda, meets Doctor Alfred Bolk. Bolk is interested in helping Lili undergo a vaginoplasty, to which Lili agrees. Bolk transfers to Dresden and Lili soon follows.
The first operation removes Lili's testicles, but during the operation, Bolk reveals that Lili was supposed had undeveloped ovaries in her body the whole time, which he discloses to Gerda and restores in a succeeding operation.
Lili and Gerda then return to Denmark. Lili and Henrik fall in love, and Henrik then proposes to Lili and Hans asks Gerda to move with him to America. Bolk manages to contact Lili and tells her of a final operation; one that will give Lili a uterus to be able to become a mother. Lili tells Gerda of the operation, to which Gerda discourages as she finds it to be "too dangerous." Lili, however, insists, and ultimately goes forth with the surgery.
The surgery, however, was a failure as it has been found that an infection has grown inside Lili after the operation. Whether Lili lives or dies is unclear.[2]
