Gullkrona gränd

The Sola Trilogy #1

by Irmelin Sandman Lilius

Sanna, Silja och Sissela bor i staden Tulavall, i hörnet av Gullkrona gata och Gullkrona gränd. Deras familj hotas av många svårigheter: äldste sonen är inte helt att lita på, mamman arbetar ut sig för att klara ekonomin, och pappan är "konstig i huvudet" enligt den allmänna meningen. För flickorna är hans sagor en hemlig rikedom som ger mening och djup åt deras fattiga vardagsvärld. Vintern är lång och tung, vinden ylar genom springorna i det ruckliga hus där de bor. Ett våldsdåd ute i staden sätter rykten i rörelse och griper oroande in också i barnens liv. Bonadea, flickornas bästa vän hjälper dem, lurar förföljare på avvägar och skaffar ved när elden i köksspisen slocknat.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens

130 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Irmelin Sandman Lilius is a Swedish-speaking Finnish author. Her first book, Trollsång, was published in 1955. She has written picture books and novels for children as well as books for adults and poetry, and she also works as a translator and reviewer. Among her best-known works is the large chronicle about the fictive town of Tulavall on the south coast of Finland, which she has described in different times and from the point of view of different people, in more than a dozen books. She has also written several self-biographical works (some together with her sister Heddi), as well as novels with a heroine based on her daughter.

In 1957, she married the painter and sculptor Carl-Gustaf Lilius, and they were married until his death in 1998. In 2003, her biography of her husband was published, with the title Sjutusen år (Eng: "Seven Thousand Years").

Her books have been translated into 16 languages. Among the literary awards she has received are the Swedish awards Nils Holgerson-plaketten (in 1972), Astrid Lindgren-priset (in 1976) and Svenska Akademins pris (in 1987), and the Finnish awards Topeliuspriset (in 1980) and Statens barnkulturpris (in 1985).[1] She is also on the IBBY Honour List for 2002[2

Reviews

[Jukka]

Fru Sola or Sola Trilogy - Irmelin Sandman Lilius

This is a beautiful set of books. Truly inspired writing. The characters become completely real, even in their world of magic. Written in the late 1960's around a family in a small Finnish fishing village of the 1890's and then much further back to a time of magic in a middle ages Finland with the tale of an Arthurian sort of Queen woven in.

When i grew up i spent fantasy time with my sisters imagining life of a group of children under their own care partly stranded from adult authority. This book gives bitter-sweet understanding to a group of children left on their own, in a community that can both nurture and wound, although good usually in some ways hold.

The English translation sparkles at times with magical language and description, no doubt a trait inherited from it's original language. Although normally this would be categorized as YA fantasy, the depth of ideas and themes takes this book far beyond that, and lets it live with imaginative thoughtful readers of all ages.

That this book is out of print in English is quite surprising -- although it certainly would be banned by large parts of conservative America -- it is a captivating read that in my opinion is ripe for rediscovery. Themes of justice, social responsibility and the preservation of the natural environment are all found throughout these books. The third book will have some extra appeal for horse and animal lovers.

Characters (only some of the many): Bonadea, Silja, Sissela, Sanna, Mamma, Pappa, Stefan, Fia, Lasse, Black Sea Sailor, Herr Turiam, Melchior, Mr and Mrs Klingkors, Queen Sola. All the side characters and conversations are wonderful.

I read this series while Russia was invading and annexing Crimea. Interesting to consider the similarity and parallels to the tactics taken by the Russians here in the third book, albeit on a much smaller scale. I love the power shown in peaceful mass protest demonstrated near the very end of this book.

There is a fourth book Bonadea written before these, a place of origin for the author's ideas somewhat like The Hobbit was to the Lord of the Rings. Not sure but it seems like the book Bonadea is not available in English. Please tell me if i'm wrong on this.

[Saga · Rating 3 out of 5]

– Har du tänkt på, sade han helt sakta, att allt vad man gör blir som en svans som släpar efter en? Nu lät också hans röst annorlunda, svängande, gungande, så som folket utifrån öarna talade.
Hon nickade förvånad.
– Så somliga saker måste man fortsätta att göra, fast man egentligen inte har lust, och annat måste man låta bli, för man vill ju inte att folk ska tro att man ändrat sig. (s. 54)

[Janiece · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book already had a few things going for it before I read it: it's short, it's Scandinavian, it's set at the end of the 19th century, and it's for children (although pleasurable and satisfying reading for adults). I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint. 

The book features the adventures of three sisters, and their family and local community. It's not all sunshine and roses in their world - the children live in the poorest part of town, their father is incapacitated after an accident, the conditions can be harsh, and there is a murder in the plot: but despite this, it's not at all grim. Papa may not be able to work anymore, but he can tell magical tales. 

There is a beauty in the simplicity of the lives the characters lead in their costal fictional town (based on Swedish & Finnish towns), and also in the writing. Originally written in Swedish by Irmelin Sandman Lilius, and translated into English by Marianne Helweg Rogers, it is full of poetic touches without being at all laboured or pretentious.

I enjoyed the world this book took me into, and I look forward to reading the other two in the Fru Sola trilogy. 

(Oh, and the family hen is called Cacklehilda!) 

[Natalie Campbell]

i think i know someone who lives in a housing subdivision that is based on the fictional swedish town where this book is set?

Merged review:

this is part of a trilogy that i don't have the middle part of... i am warming to this author and imagined that what i wore to work on halloween was a costume of what she might wear. her like "imaginative childhood" moments fall flat a lot of the time, but the actual story contains a strange mix of growing up moments, small worlds becoming bigger, magic, interchild politics, dreamy scandinavian details and, of course, darkness. also the endpapers have a map.