For a time he lived in North Germany, then he migrated to Bavaria, spending his winters in Paris.

In 1882 he visited Norway for a time, but returned to the continent of Europe.

His voluntary exile from his native land ended in the spring of 1893, when he settled at Holskogen, near Christiansund.
"The Visionary" was followed in 1871 by a volume of short stories "Fortoellinger," and during the next year by a larger and more ambitious book, "The Three-master Future,"-- "Tremasteren Fremtiden"-- a realistic sketch of life in the northern harbours of Norway.

Two years later "The Pilot and his Wife"-- "Lodsen og hans Hustru"-- appeared, a book in every respect greatly in advance of its predecessors.

Though written almost entirely in an Italian village it has been justly described by an able critic as "one of the saltiest stories ever published." It placed Lie on a higher pedestal than he had ever before occupied, and brought him into line with Ibsen and Bjoernson.