Mathilda Roos


Lovisa Mathilda Roos, also known under the pen name M. Rs., was a Swedish writer.

Biography

Lovisa Mathilda Roos was born 2 August 1852 in Stockholm. Her parents were Malte Leopold Roos, a colonel at Svea Artillery Regiment, and Mathilda Beata Meurk. She was educated at home and at Åhlinska skolan. Remaining unmarried, she lived with his sister Anna and sometimes also with Laura Fitinghoff, with whom she built the Furuliden house in Stocksund, which later became, as she had hoped, a rest home for women.
Roos was a member of the women's association Nya Idun and one of its first committee members.
Roos' novels usually dealt with women's issues and their unfair treatment in society. She was not afraid to address sensitive subjects at that time including lesbian love in Den första kärleken. A religious crisis in the 1880s affected her later books. In the novel Hvit ljung, she takes up the unclear living conditions of a teacher and rape. This is considered to have contributed to a government decision that greatly improved teachers' salaries. In women's political pamphlets, she addressed Ellen Key's ideas, Ett ord till fröken Ellen Key och till den svenska kvinnan, 1896. Roos died 17 July 1908, in Danderyd.

Selected works

;Fiction
  • Marianne, 1881.
  • Vårstormar, 1883.
  • Berättelser och skizzer, 1884.
  • Hårdt mot hårdt : berättelse, 1886.
  • Höststormar: berättelse, 1887.
  • Lifsbilder: berättelser, 1888.
  • Familjen Verle: en skildring, 1889.
  • Saulus af Tarsus: en själs historia, 1890.
  • Genom skuggor: en nutidsskildring, 1891.
  • Oförgätliga ord: ett minne, 1891.
  • Strejken på Bergstomta: en skildring ur lifvet, 1892.
  • Helgmålsklockan: skildring från Norrland, 1896.
  • Karin Holm: en berättelse för mödrar, 1896.
  • Skepp som förgås i stormen: berättelse, 1896.
  • Från norrskenets land: sägner och tilldragelser, 1897.
  • Hägringar: berättelser, 1898.
  • Hvad Ivar Lyth hörde i fängelset: berättelse, 1898.
  • De osynliga vägarna, 1903–1904.
  • En springande gnista och andra berättelser, 1906.
  • Hvit ljung, 1907.
  • Maj: en familjehistoria : prisbelönt vid Iduns stora romanpristäfling år 1905, 1907.
  • En moders dagbok och andra berättelser, 1908.
  • När bladen falla: dikter, 1909.
;For children and young readers
  • I vårbrytningen: teckningar ur barnens värld, 1891. Illustrated by Jenny Nyström.
  • Önskekransen: en berättelse för unga kvinnor, 1892.
  • Det roligaste af allt, 1893.
  • En liten tviflare, 1893.
  • Kärlekens hemlighet, 1893.
  • Ur barndomens värld: berättelser, 1894. Illustrated by Jenny Nyström.
  • Jul, 1894.
  • Det allra käraste, 1894.
  • Fader vår, 1895.
  • Tant Majkens berättelse, 1898.
  • Lilla "tröste-mor", 1898.
  • Guds änglar, 1898.
  • Djupets sagor: berättelser, 1901.
  • Glädjeblomster: berättelser för de små, 1905. Illustrated by Jenny Nyström.