Lisa Eurén-Berner was an author. She wrote the popular series of girls’ books about Fröken Sprakfåle.

Lisa Eurén-Berner was born in Luleå in 1886, and she grew up there. She married the police commissioner Karl Staffan Berner and they moved to Stockholm, where she became a housewife. She made her publishing debut in 1932 through Wahlström’s publishing house, which released her novel Fröken Sprakfåle: en berättelse för flickor. It was the first in a long series about the bouncy and slightly disobedient Fröken Sprakfåle and her family. The books were bound in red, which indicated that they were intended for girls. At that time boys’ books were bound in green. Readers of the Fröken Sprakfåle novels follow the adventures of the female character, named Inga-Maja Bergman, from her life in a small town in Norrbotten when she is 14 years old until her engagement and marriage to Greger and subsequent life as a housewife. It is not long before the couple moves to a two-room apartment in Stockholm and a new, young Sprakfåle is born, named Susanne. Later on in the series Susanne herself goes on to have children. The books are written in diary format and the narrator speaks directly to the reader. The opening lines of the novel Fröken Sprakfåle växer upp, 1943 are these: “Well, here I am writing again… Although it is great fun it also feels a tad nerve-racking. I hope with all my heart that those who buy this book like it just as much as its predecessor.”

Fröken Sprakfåle has become a concept. Lisa Eurén-Berner borrowed the name from another girls’ book called Fröken Sprakfåle. En modern kvinnas historia, published by F. C. Askerberg’s publishing house in Uppsala in 1910, under the pseudonym of Vera Skeeberg. The author was actually a priest named Carl Kihlén and it was his only novel. Lisa Eurén-Berner’s version of Fröken Sprakfåle is neither unruly nor a tomboy but rather, in Ruth Halldén’s words “a female rebel”. Fröken Sprakfåle is ready to fight, intelligent, funny, inventive, and charming. She, just like Anne in Anne of Green Gables, makes mistakes and, for instance, puts salt on pancakes instead of sugar. Being a housewife is something she has to adapt to and the novels focus on family life and her failings as a wife. Her husband Greger is an understanding man and everyday events are portrayed in a humorous manner. As in other long-running series about young girls (like of Anne and Kulla-Gulla), Sprakfåle ages as the books progress.

The Fröken Sprakfåle series comprises ten books, which were published between 1932 and 1942. This was followed by a further 19 novels, ending in 1963, based on the character’s daughter Susanne and grandchild named Peter. The later series is not considered to be of as high a standard as the first, but was very popular nonetheless. The individual books were released in several editions and some were translated into Danish (Frøken Vips) and Norwegian (Frøken Vims).

Lisa Eurén-Berner’s girls’ books are amongst the most read books in Sweden. Between the years 1959-1965 Lisa Eurén-Berner’s books were among the most frequently borrowed girls’ books with about 98,000 copies being borrowed. Only books by Martha Sandwall-Bergström and Ann Mari Falk were more heavily borrowed.

Lisa Eurén-Berner also published other girls’ books through Walhström’s publishing house, including titles such as Vi träffas klockan 7: roman för unga flickor, 1936, Hallå Sandra! Roman för unga flickor, 1937, Flickan i blått: roman för unga flickor, 1938, Vi ses igen: roman för unga flickor, 1940, and Amanda som filmstjärna: berättelse för flickor, 1954. Under the pseudonym of Clary Linde she also published a novel called Jacki prövas: Berättelse för flickor, 1949.

Lisa Eurén-Berner died in Stockholm in 1973.