Helle Stangerup

Eva Helle Stangerup (30 October 1939 – 29 March 2015) was a Danish crime and thriller novelist. She published her first novel Gravskrift for Rødhætte in 1967 and followed it with her breakthrough work Gule handsker a year later. Stangerup's most successful work was Christine published in 1985 and it became the best-selling novel in Denmark in the 1980s. Her works have been published in other languages such as Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian and Swedish and she was voted the winner of literary prizes such as the De Gyldne Laurbær.

Early life Stangerup was born in Frederiksberg, Denmark on 30 October 1939. She was the daughter of the university professor and the actress . Stangerup was the great-grandchild of the Swedish author Hjalmar Söderberg and her brother was the Danish writer . When she was at school, she was a childhood friend of the future Margrethe II of Denmark. Stangerup was sent to boarding school in Switzerland and the United Kingdom and graduated from N. Zahle's School in 1959. Stangerup went on to author the novels Spejldans in 1969, Diamanter er dydens laun in 1970, Solsikkerne in 1972, the psychological thriller Ulvetid in 1980 following a lengthy break from writing and Den tibetanske maske in 1981. and won the De Gyldne Laurbær that same year.

In 1989, Stangerup published the novel about Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, She wrote the modern suspense thriller Stedfar in 1996. Stangerup published her memoirs, Bag skodderne, in 2011. Her works have been published in other languages such as Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian and Swedish.

Personal life She was a Protestant. Stangerup was married to the landowner County Count Adam Vilhelm Josef Knuth af Knuthenborg from 25 July 1969 until their divorce in 1979. They had two children. She died from a long illness on 29 March 2015.