Hanna’s Daughters , by Marianne Fredriksson, is a Literary Fiction about three generations of Swedish women, starting with Hanna in 1871. I picked up this book from Target early in January. I had just finished Pillar’s of the Earth, which I’d gobbled up entirely and was left wanting more. I decide this book with its historical epic link might fit the bill and satiate me until I could get home and do some research on my next book choice. I don’t usually browse books and buy them randomly. This however was a spontaneous choice and a good one at that.
The story of these three women is set during a time of transition–socially, geographically and intellectually for each generation. From Hanna’, a poor rural woman with very little education, to Johanna, a progressive thinking urban socialist, to Anna, a suburban wife and mother and novelist each generation unfolds in a widening degree while remaining integral to the way they loved and viewed the world.
There were many moments in the book that helped me view my own relationship to my mother and grandmother in a new way. In the most profound way, I can better understand that, like me, my matriarchs and their behavior and ideas were molded by their mothers and events of their own eras–not as I’d previously considered just wrought in stone by fate. It isn’t that I hadn’t considered that they were human and had their own stories–I just hadn’t considered how much of them must be in their secrets and in their dreams. Things we don’t see on the surface when we are part of a younger generation trying to stake our own claim. Things were different for them, as they will be very different for my own daughters. Here is a quote from the book that struck a chord of resonance for me. I read it and re-read it. In the story, Johanna has taken over the finances for the family and it relieved a great deal of pressure on her relationship with her husband because she was more inclined to keeping a budget,
“At last I’d proved something I’d always know. Women never get any respect until they can stand on their own two feet.
Now, so many years later, I’m not so sure.
Anna has always supported her self and her children. She managed better than I did, even with her divorce. But then, is there something in women, something we don’t want to see or admit?”
Something we don’t want to see or admit. What? That we want to be taken care of even if we can do a better job of it on our own? Or perhaps that we shouldn’t be afraid to take the work if it helps the partnership, even if it is considered to take masculinity from our partners? Maybe it’s something else, maybe there is a middle ground between dependence and independence?
It’s a good book. I’d recommend it, as it a quick read and very interesting. In fact, I’m going to look for more of Marianne Fredriksson’s books. I like her line of thought and her story telling is quite good.
