The Girl from Nowhere
For over 20 years, the author Birgit Th Sparre described her hometown of Lake Åsunden in Västergötland, and her romance novel ‘The estates around the lake’ have spellbound several generations of readers. She grew up in the beautiful mansion Sjöred, loved and pampered by her noble adoptive parents. But, she never knew anything about her descent. All records were carefully deleted, and the Count took the secret with him in the grave. Every summer thousands of tourists travel around the estates and listen to the guides' stories about the author and her novel figures, about stories and tales weaved with real events which occurred in the neighborhood.
As a red thread through the books, the author's love is obvious for her hometown and the people who lived there. With warmth, she tells about the workers in the yard, about the eleven state children in the poor cottage with moisture stains on the ceiling, about the originals that were seen over the shoulder, but which were missing when they passed away. About the lake which was ‘’more beautiful than other lakes" ...
She released 33 books - the first when she was 22 years old, the last one when she reached 73. And when she died at the age of 81, she had a semi-finished novel at her typewriter. But if someone called her the author, she would break down.
"No, I am not an author," she said, with her husky voice. ‘’I only write books. That's a big difference!’’
"As from nowhere, she appeared at the white estate house, on a January day in 1904. A little bright half-year-old girl with thin, bright hair. She was awaited. There was no doubt. The eyes of the middle-aged count felt proud when he carefully picked her up her arm and pushed her next to him. She was named Signe Birgit Julia Fredrika and grew up like a little light-haired sago princess on Sjöred. "
But who was the girl with the bright hair and the sweet face? The girl who never got her name in the nobility calendar. Where did she come from? Who were her parents? She only knew Carl Georg Sparre and his wife Signe. Was she of royal heritage, perhaps the result of a prince or princess love story.
