Malvina Bråkenhielm born Hilda Ingeborg Malvina Gabriella Runsten (25 December 1853 – 25 December 1928) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

writer of 30 novels and 250 short stories. She was philanthropic and also performed and taught music. Her elder sister was the writer Laura Fitinghoff.

Life

Bråkenhielm was born in

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

on Christmas Day in 1853. Her father, Jonas Bernhard Runsten, was a pastor and a member of parliament. Her parents had a large farm in

Sollefteå Sollefteå () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. History The earliest written account on Sollefteå is found in a script dating back to 1270. During this time the name ...

. She "Vina" was one of five girls who were all musical and studied at the

Music Academy A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

in Stockholm. Her mother, Ottilia Löfvander, had been a friend of the "Swedish Nightingale"

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...

. Her family lived half the year in Stockholm where her father attended to his parliamentary duties. Her elder sister Laura Fitinghoff would also be a writer and she would describe the 1860s when the family helped those worse than themselves. Malvina saw her mother's philanthropy as admirable and she adopted her charitable outlook. In 1873 she married Johan Nikolaus Reenstierna and in three years she was the mother of two and a widow. She gave concerts to raise money and began to write. She beat her sister Laura into print by a year with her publication ''Skisser och berättelser'' (Sketches and stories) in 1883 using the nom de plume of ''Rachel''. In 1889 she gained the name Bråkenhielm when she married Carl in May of that year in New York. By December her not strong new husband had turned to drink and had made her a widow for a second time and a mother of a third child. She returned to Sweden keeping some of the details of her marriage from her sisters. In her life she wrote more than 30 novels and 250 short stories but she did not rate them very highly. She worked as a singing teacher in Uppsala but poverty eventually drove her to live with her sister Laura, but this was problematic. Laura's success with her 1907 book about the 1860s and her youthful daughter

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raised jealousy and arguments. Like her mother and despite her own poverty Malvina turned to philanthropy. Bråkenhielm died, the last of the Runtsen daughters, in Kungsholms parish in 1928.

Life

References

Further reading