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Anna Eva Elisabet Sparre

1906-02-021993-12-21

Author

Anna Sparre was an author. She is best known for her historical romance novels.

Anna Sparre was born in 1906. She was the third of six children. Her parents were the politician Baron Theodor Adelswärd and his wife Anna Douglas. She grew up on the Adelsnäs estate near Åtvidaberg. Her father owned a company which later became known as Facit AB. He was a well-known liberal politician who served as Minister of Finance in Prime Minister Karl Staaff’s 1911–1914 government and several times served as a parliamentarian during the period leading up to 1942. Because of this Anna Sparre also spent part of her childhood growing up at the Adelswärd home in Stockholm. Anna Sparre was married to Claes Sparre, director-general of aviation, from 1927 to 1946. The couple lived in Ljungbyhed as well as at other locations. Anna Sparre’s second marriage, to the dentist Arne-Moe Larsen, lasted from 1949 to 1956. They lived in Denmark. However, she returned to her native tracts in Östergötland during the 1950s. Later on she was a resident of Djursholm. Her 1993 book Alla mina hem gives an account of all the places she had called home and how she went from an estate complete with servants and governesses to a small apartment at Gärdet in Stockholm, and later to five different houses in Denmark.

Anna Sparre made her literary debut in 1943 when she released her girls’ book entitled N:o 14 Sparv anmäler sig. Her choice of subject matter is probably connected to her role as head of propaganda for the ‘lottakåren’ (women’s voluntary defence force) during the Second World War period. She wrote another two youth novels during the 1940s. She then fell silent as an author for the next 25 years before making her return to the literary world with an autobiographical hit novel called “…men sjön är densamma”, published in 1970. This book tells of her childhood at Adelsnäs during the 1910s and 1920s. Her memories include people on the estate who belonged to both the upper and lower social classes. Her next book, Från andra stranden published in 1971, focuses on previous generations who had lived at Adelsnäs.

Anna Sparre wrote around thirty novels. Apart from those which dealt with life in the countryside, she also gained a major following for her historical romances which focused on various different women’s lives, such as Farväl amiral, published in 1977, which tells of Sten Sture the younger’s wife Kristina Nilsdotter (Gyllenstierna) and how, following the death of her husband, she put herself at the head of the Sture faction and tried to defeat the Danes. A sequel emerged in 1978 entitled Jag i siden, du i vadmal. Anna Sparre has also portrayed further historical figures such as St Birgitta's granddaughter Ingegerd Knutsdotter in Piskan och korset, published in 1987, Princess Philippa of England in Älskade dronning, from 1988, and Görvel Fadersdotter (Sparre) in both Hertigens pärlor, published in 1989, and in Skuggan av ett torn, from 1990.

Anna Sparre’s main interest lay in the medieval period, particularly the 1500s and 1600s. Her 1982 book Flykt utan vingar is one of the few she wrote which is set during the 1900s. This is a light-entertainment novel dedicated to the wives of Ljungbyhed’s early aviators. Her 1990 novel I skuggan av ett torn also differs from her usual output in that it is a novel comprising a murder mystery, situated in a village in Danish Zealand in the 1940s. Anna Sparre also portrayed her friendship with Princess Astrid in her book Vännen min, published in 1985.

Anna Sparre’s final book, entitled Drottningens förtrogna, was posthumously published in 1993, one year after she died.


Lisbeth Larsson
(Translated by Alexia Grosjean)


Published 2018-03-08



You are welcome to cite this article but always provide the author’s name as follows:

Anna Eva Elisabet Sparre, www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/AnnaEvaElisabetSparre, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon (article by Lisbeth Larsson), retrieved 2024-04-25.




Other Names

    Maiden name: Adelswärd


Family Relationships

Civil Status: Divorced
  • Mother: Anna Lovisa Dorotea Douglas
  • Father: Axel Theodor Adelswärd
  • Sister: Hedda Augusta Anna Louisa Adelswärd
more ...


Education

  • Privatundervisning i hemmet, Åtvidaberg


Activities

  • Profession: Propagandachef, Riksförbundet Sveriges lottakårer (SLK)
  • Profession: Författare


Contacts

  • Friend: Astrid, drottning av Belgien


Organisations

  • Riksförbundet Sveriges lottakårer (SLK)
    Medlem, propagandachef


Residences

  • Birthplace: Stockholm
  • Stockholm
  • Åtvidaberg
more ...


Sources



Further References