Career
They had a son, Svend, in 1894 but the marriage was dissolved in 1900. Bregendahl turned to literature for a living. Her first novel, Hendrik i Bakken (Hendrik of the Hill) in 1904, portrayed the marital difficulties of an introvert whose wife rejects his advanced.
Bregendahl went on to gain fame with En Dødsnat (translated as A Night of Death) in 1912, based on the death of her mother when she was only 12.
Completed in 1923, her eight-volume work Billeder af Sødalsfolkenes liv (Pictures from the Life of the People of Sødal) is deemed to be her most significant contribution to literature, presenting the day-to-day lives of West Jutland farmers in a late 19th century village community.