Laura Fitinghoff

Born in Sollefteå, Sweden, in 1848, Laura Fitinghoff grew up in a rectory as the daughter of a clergyman and member of parliament. She was educated at home, and the landscapes and rural life of northern Sweden later became an important part of her writing.

After an unhappy marriage and a difficult separation, she supported herself and her children through her work as a writer. She became a prominent literary figure around the turn of the twentieth century, writing novels and children's books with a strong feeling for everyday life and for people living through poverty and hardship.

She is especially remembered for Barnen ifrån Frostmofjället (Children from Frostmofjället), published in 1907, a much-loved book about seven children traveling through Sweden after the famine years of the 1860s. Laura Fitinghoff died in 1908, but that novel in particular helped secure her lasting place in Swedish literature.