author
Wendela Randelin
1823–1906
An early Finnish-Swedish novelist, she wrote one of the first novels published in Finland and chose a bold subject for her time. Her work stands at the beginning of a new chapter in Finnish literary history.
1 Audiobook
Den Fallna: Berättelse
by Wendela Randelin
About the author
Born Wendla Johanna Cumenius on December 13, 1823, in Huittinen, she became known as Wendela or Vendela Randelin after her 1845 marriage to Carl Gustaf Randelin. She was a Finland-Swedish writer and is remembered above all for her 1848 novel Den Fallna.
That book is often described as one of the earliest novels published in Finland. It also stands out for tackling a difficult and unusually daring theme for the mid-1800s, which has helped keep her name in discussions of early women writers in Finland.
Randelin died on February 4, 1906, in Lokalahti. Though only one novel is firmly associated with her today, it gave her a lasting place among the writers who helped introduce and develop the novel in Finnish literary culture.