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Skuggserien #3

Skuggornas barn

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Berta blev hastigt tvungen att lämna Rosengåva, hemligheterna där blev för många och för svåra för henne att bära, men Axel har lovat att när tiden är mogen ska han kalla på henne igen. Nu går Berta hemma, väntar, längtar och saknar. Hon vet att hon måste få komma tillbaka till slottet, men vet att hon aldrig skulle kunna dyka upp där oinbjuden. Under hösten lär Berta även känna Ingeborg, som spelar violin och brinner för välgörenhet, det utvecklar en vänskap som förändrar Berta på många sätt.

380 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 1985

11 people are currently reading
214 people want to read

About the author

Maria Gripe

60 books197 followers
Maria Gripe, born Maja Stina Walter (25 July 1923, Vaxholm, Uppland – 5 April 2007, Rönninge), was a Swedish author of books for children and young people, often written in a magical and mystical tone. In 1946 she married the artist Harald Gripe, who created cover illustrations for most of her books. His illustration career, in fact, began in connection with his wife's debut as author of I vår lilla stad ("In our little town"). Maria Gripe's first major success was Josephine (1961), the first of a series of novels that later included Hugo and Josephine and Hugo. During most of her adult life Maria Gripe lived in Nyköping, where an adaptation of her book Agnes Cecilia was filmed. After a long period of dementia Maria Gripe died at 83 in a nursing home in Rönninge outside Stockholm; her husband Harald had predeceased her by 15 years. Their daughter Camilla Gripe is also a children's author.

Much of her writing, particularly the later works, is suffused with a supernatural or mystical element. This change in her writing style from her less mature work was partly a result of the influence of Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, and Carl Jonas Love Almquist, and partly a reaction to violence in entertainment that had begun to gain ground in cultural expression; Gripe sought to manufacture plot tension in less overt ways. A prominent feature of Maria Gripe's writing is a respect for individuals and their unique characteristics, a trait which is especially perceptible in the social realism of the Elvis series, which she co-wrote with her husband Harald in the 1970s.

Gripe wrote 38 books, translated into 30 different languages, making her one of Sweden's most prolific writers. Her last published book is Annas blomma ("Anna's Flower", 1997). Several of Gripe's books have been filmed, such as Glasblåsarns barn (The Glassblower's Children), Agnes Cecilia: en sällsam historia ("Agnes Cecilia: a singular history") and the "Shadow" series, directed by Anders Grönros in the 1990s. Kjell Grade directed Hugo and Josephine in 1967, while Kay Pollak filmed Elvis! Elvis (Elvis and his friends) in 1976 and Flickan vid stenbänken ("The girl on the stone bench") became a television series in 1989. Dramatized versions of Tordyveln flyger i skymningen ("The dung-beetle flies at dusk"), Agnes Cecilia, Tanten ("The Aunt") and Svinhugg går igen ("The backbiter bitten") have been produced as radio serials. She also wrote the original Swedish television script for Trolltider ("Magic Time", 1979).

Stockholm University Literature professor Boel Westin praised Maria Gripe to a writer for Svenska Dagbladet, declaring that her Shadow books presented an exciting narrative that enabled readers to feel as if they were participants: "She has meant a lot. She renewed children's prose."[1]Literary researcher Ying Toijer-Nilsson, who wrote a biography Skuggornas förtrogna ("Confidant to shadows") of the author, echoed the remarks, saying that she would miss "the warm and humorous human being who was Maria Gripe." The biographer continued: "She has done a lot for the children's book world, and she got her readers to think about philosophy, about the world and about death." Toijer-Nilsson pointed out that Gripe's books also have "a significant tendency to support the social advancement of women." Her books have won many awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1974, and she was the 1979 Swedish winner of the Dobloug Prize for Swedish and Norwegian fiction.

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5 stars
244 (30%)
4 stars
364 (44%)
3 stars
179 (22%)
2 stars
23 (2%)
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Christina Stind.
537 reviews67 followers
October 18, 2009
(Translation of title: The children of the shadows)

It doesn't matter what gender you are, what matters are the person you are on the inside.
While I do think Carolin has a point with this statement, she takes it way to far when she sees no problems with dressing as a boy or a girl just as it suits her. She is not the type of person who consider that she could hurt anybody by this but in this book, it's not just Berta who is having problems with Carolin's cross dressing.

This is the third volume of Gripe's shadow series and in this one, the twins get a chance to spend time with their father in Paris and they really get to know him. But Maximiliam is called back to fight and is later reported missing and then dead.

Meanwhile, back on the castle, Lydia Stenstierna, who we now know is alive and is the 'ghost' on Rosengave, is still battling with herself whether she should reveal to her children that she's still alive.

Berta stands on the outside of all this, she's still in school so her time on Rosengave is limited which allows her to get a better perspective on it all - not that it helps her a lot since all the relations in this book are rather complicated.

A sidestory is about Maximiliam's sister-in-law who tries to take over the castle and her niece, who falls madly in love with Carl (Carolin) which of course creates problems...

I do like how both Maximiliam and Lydia only exist as shadows and how the children therefore become children of shadows. I like how Gripe use the shadow theme throughout the series - the shadow from Carolin's father on the stone bench in the first book, the white human shadows between the trees in the second and Lydia herself as ghost/shadow in this volume as well as being one half of the shadow parents. I think this is very clever done by Gripe and I'm sure this is one of the reasons this book felts so deep to me as a teenager.

I was disappointed with this book. It started off well on the basis of the excellent volume two in the series. But when it became time to the big revelations - among these the identity of Carolin's mother - it all just sort of fizzled and the characters didn't really react to it. These characters get big and life-altering information and they all kind of just shrug and say 'yeah, well, I kind of knew so no biggie' and that just didn't feel realistic to me and left me feeling kind of let down by Gripe. It's still a good book - just not great.
Profile Image for Bookmaniac70.
604 reviews114 followers
February 27, 2018
Дългоочакваната трета книга от поредицата дава отговор на загадките в предишните две, но това, разбира се, става след заплетени криволици и обрати. Авторката продължава да развива сложния и противоречив образ на Каролин и нейната страст да се превъплъщава в различни роли. Цената на игрите й, обаче, може да бъде много висока.

Предстои ревю в detskiknigi.com.
Profile Image for Stina.
7 reviews
May 28, 2024
Jag önskar att Maria Gripe hade skrivit mer ungdomslitteratur, Agnes Cecilia, Tordyveln och de här är bland det finaste jag vet
Profile Image for Lupina Ojala.
Author 27 books40 followers
November 17, 2019
Jag älskade Skuggserien när jag läste dem i mina tidiga tonår och nu när jag läser om dem i vuxen ålder blir jag inte besviken, tvärtom. Maria Gripe väver skickligt ihop alla trådar i berättelsen om Berta, Carolin och människorna på slottet Rosengåva. Förutom gåtorna och mystiken som suger in läsaren i boken finns där en ödmjukhet inför människan och alla svåra val vi ställs inför, strävan efter att göra rätt och rädslan inför såväl döden som livet. Det finns mycket att fundera över i Maria Gripes böcker för den som vill. De färgstarka karaktärerna blir levande på boksidorna.

En bra bok stannar länge kvar hos läsaren och de här böckerna har följt med mig hela livet. Ett stort plus för den här fina nyutgåvan från Modernista är att de har originalomslagen målade av Marias man Harald Gripe.

12 reviews
September 14, 2013
Fortsätter där andra boken lämnar oss och gör det i samma anda och stil. Fann på det hela boken mycket rafflande, allt av ouppklarad art nådde en förklaring. Detta gällde också i hög grad karaktärerna. Det är dock svårt att förbise hur tillrättalagt och påskyndad slutet känns. Efter att i tre böcker ha byggt upp en rad bräckliga och komplexa karaktörer låter Marie Gripe stora händelser explodera i deras liv för att sedan kvickt sträcka sig efter den ljusa och breda penseln.
Profile Image for Merete Bratsberg Aae.
427 reviews9 followers
Read
April 30, 2025
I denne boka får man svar på gåter og spørsmål fra de to første bøkene. Det er vanskelig å skrive uten å røpe for mye. Handlinga går ganske sakte fram. Som voksen leser er det lett å forstå noen av mysteriene, men det var også noen ting jeg ikke hadde forutsett.

God bok, sakte tempo, grøssende scener.
Profile Image for Стоянка.
Author 56 books24 followers
August 16, 2021
От гледна точка на изминалото време между написването на тази книга и съвремието ни, има неща, които са се променили дотолкова, че на моменти книгата изглежда не само наивна, а направо невъзможна.
От друга страна, темата в нея е изненадващо "съвременна" и загатва въпроси от взаимоотношенията между млади момчета и момичета, както и зараждащи се любовни чувства от млад мъж към друг "млад мъж", който всъщност е жена.
Малко объркано описание стана, но трябва да се проследи цялата история от "... и белите сенки в гората" нататък, за да стане ясно за какво става въпрос.
Тази книга ми беше малко по-мудна от втората от поредицата, нямаше толкова много неочаквани обрати и изненади, героите бяха по-статични сякаш.
Очаквам четвъртата и последна книга от поредицата да даде подобаващ финал на историята на Каролин и Берта.
Profile Image for Anna Smirnova.
194 reviews1 follower
June 29, 2025
I think, this book is a modern gothic novel. I just read Udolfo and it is funny how similar this book is. Endlessly dragging suspense resulting into nothing. Streams of consciousness of nervous young women. Anticlimactic explanations to everything… half of the first part of the book felt as continuation of the previous one. Not a continuation, but maybe a copy-paste of it. Endlessly tired of everyone loving Carolina for no reason. Both characters have no deep personal traits. I’m not sure a book with such twisted and sinister (Leonie) relationships between people is good for a teenager or a child.
Profile Image for Detski Knigi.
166 reviews64 followers
March 21, 2018
Историята на едно силно и същевременно противоречиво приятелство, изтъкано от загадъчни тайни, ни привлече към тетралогията на Мария Грипе още от първата книга. „Деца на сенки“ е третия роман от поредицата и задоволява любопитството на читателя, майсторски провокирано в предишните книги. Много от въпросите получават отговор, а четенето е все така увлекателно.
Цялото ревю на http://detskiknigi.com/maria-gripe-de....
Profile Image for Hermione G..
38 reviews
August 31, 2019
IMPRESIONANTE FINAL

Toda la trilogía-tetralogía me ha encantado en su conjunto y la narración de Berta (María Gripe) me ha fascinado. Sinceramente, voy a echar de menos Rosengava, a Carolin, todos los sentimientos que Berta era capaz de describir, etc.
Me da rabia que la cuarta parte no haya sido traducida al español, aunque el misterio general queda cerrado.
Os echaré de menos y en un futuro, nos reencontraremos.
59 reviews
August 2, 2018
I loved this one too!!!
This book was so fun to read! I love the characters even more than I did before!
The relationships in this book are very interesting to read about. Everyone is so unique and you can see that in how they talk (or write ;) ) and act very, very well!
Profile Image for Lilamedusa.
522 reviews14 followers
June 25, 2021
Fue bueno saber cómo termina todo. Me hubiera gustado poder leer la continuación. Desafortunadamente, no leo sueco....
Profile Image for Kris.
406 reviews7 followers
January 22, 2022
Общо взето като първата и втората, но най-сетне се яви и развръзка :)
Profile Image for Jofrid Sandgren.
33 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2025
Carolin (ljudbok så vet inte hur det stavas) continues to be a queer icon
Profile Image for Adelein.
746 reviews10 followers
February 11, 2017
Varjojen lapset ei ole mielestäni yllä aivan ihanan ...ja metsän valkeat varjot -kirjan tasolle, mutta pidän tästä silti enemmän kuin Salaisuudesta varjossa (joka sekin on erittäin hyvä). Reilun puolen vuoden poissaolon jälkeen Berta palaa Rosengåvan linnaan ja sen mystiseen ilmapiiriin. Vaietut salaisuudet luovat painoa itse kunkin harteille.

Pidän Gripen kerrontatyylistä, sillä hän pitää lukijan mielenkiintoa jatkuvasti yllä. Jo aiemmissa osissa olen pitänyt hahmoja onnistuneina, mutta Varjojen lapsissa he saavat vielä lisää syvyyttä. Lisäksi tässä osassa Carolinista paljastuu myös inhimillisempi ja välittävämpi puoli, enää hän ei ole ylivoimainen näyttelijätär, joka kohtelee muita mielensä mukaan.

Kirjan loppupuolella suurin osa salaisuuksista ja arvoituksista selviää, minun makuuni hieman liian nopeasti.

Varjojen lapset on erinomainen, kiehtova, salaperäinen, syvällinen. Upea nuortenkirja, joka vetoaa kaikenikäisiin.
Profile Image for Julia.
50 reviews
January 22, 2013
[I read this book too long ago to write a proper review. Though, if I ever re-read it, I'll write one.]
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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