The Gotland house: family relations through four generations in rural Sweden

In discussing the opportunities for development in the local space, one should not go astray in theoretical speculations since development springs from the hearts of the people and their societies. In this story, we follow a family on an old farm on the Baltic island of Gotland through four generations--from Jaken, born in 1866 to the great-great-grandchild, born in 1973. It is a story of silence between husband and wife, of bitterness and rape in marriage, of the woman's dread of a new pregnancy. But also of how life on the farm has changed with the new age, and of love and fellowship between the young, who bring their child into the world together. Hence it provides not only a moving account of hitherto little-known aspects of human life in the rural areas of Sweden over the last hundred years, but also a unique insight into the developments that have taken place on a deeply personal level during this period. Berit Larsson has been a district nurse and a midwife on the island of Gotland for more than 30 years. The story appears here as told by her to Hanna Olsson. It was rendered into English by Alan Blair. The illustrations are by a Gotland artist, Ingrid Hamrell-Mårtensson.