Margit Sandemo

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Margit Sandemo (née Underdal, 23 April 1924 – 1 September 2018^[1]) was a Swedish historical fantasy author. She had been the best-selling author in the Nordic countries since the 1980s, when her novel series of 47 books, The Legend of the Ice People, was published. She also wrote many other book series such as Häxmästaren and Legenden om Ljusets rike.

Typical features for works of Margit Sandemo are among other things

Margit Sandemo was born on 23 April 1924 on a farm in Lena, Østre Toten, Valdres, Norway.

Sandemo's father was a Norwegian poet, Anders Underdal (1880 – 1973). Underdal was born in Valdres out of wedlock, and according to Sandemo herself, after an alleged affair between the Nobel Prize–winning Norwegian author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) and a 17-year-old croft girl named Guri Andersdotter (d. 1949). Audun Thorsen has written a book contradicting this allegation, entitled Bjørnsons kvinne og Margit Sandemos "familiehemmelighet" (in English: "Bjørnson's Woman and the "Family Secret" of Margit Sandemo") (Genesis forlag, Oslo, 1999). During her childhood it was thought that the alleged unmarried affair with Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson must be kept secret. Even Anders Underdal, who early on gave an account of his origin to his children, fell silent about that matter later in life. Sandemo doesn't like talking about her ancestry in public.^[3]

Sandemo's mother was a

Elsa Reuterskiöld met Anders Underdal the first time in her summer holiday journey in a valley in Valdres. They married quite soon after that on 15 June 1921 and Underdal bought a small farm, located in Huldrehaugen, Grunke, Moen, close by Fagernes. There the couple had five children, Margit being the second eldest. Her older sister was named Eva and her younger brothers, from the oldest to the youngest were: Axel, Anders and Embrik. There is only a seven-year age gap between the eldest and the youngest. One of the brothers, Anders, committed suicide in the 1950s at the age of 29.^[8]

Childhood

Reuterskiöld and Underdal divorced in 1930, when Sandemo was six. When Reuterskiöld moved back to

Margit had her compulsory education in a nine-year girls school, after which she studied at various night schools, as in an art school and was as an auditor at Dramaten. She got good grades, the best for behaviour, even though she never took schooling seriously. Sandemo had a gift for arts as a child. She was skilled at painting, singing, acting and poetry, making her mother very proud. However, she did not have any dreams to become a novelist. Margit spent her childhood summer at the estate of her grandparents in Blekinge.^[10]

During her childhood, Sandemo was raped several times. First at age seven, then at age nine, which caused a lifelong injury

In 1945, Margit met her future husband Asbjørn Sandemo (1917–1999) during the haymaking in the West Mountains of Vestre Slidre in Valdres. Asbjørn, a son of Ludvig Andersen (1879–1972) and Hulda Karlsson (1889–1956) came from Idd in Baleen and was a plumber by trade and a WWII veteran. By now, Margit's mother, Elsa Reuterskiöld, had ended her wandering life style and settled down in Valsberga in Södermanland. Asbjörn and Margit first moved there also, mostly because they didn't have anywhere else to go. They married on 29 March 1946 in Strängnäs. They had seven children, but only three survived; the other four were stillborn or miscarried. The three children are Henrik (b. 24 December 1945), Tove (b. 1949) and Bjørn (b. 1950). The family moved back to Huldrehaugen in Valdres in 1964. Margit Sandemo had seven grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren (2009). The eldest grandchild was born in 1969.

While Margit chose her professional career, she knew only that it should be artistic. She tried

Her books, which weave supernatural themes with historical facts, have made her well-loved throughout Nordic countries and beyond. Her books can be read in Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish. In early 2007, it was revealed that her series Isfolket would be published in English for the first time.^[13] She has written some stand-alone books, but her main claims to fame are her series.

Book series

Legend of the Ice People

Of her extensive series, Sagan om Isfolket (Legend of the Ice People) is perhaps what she is best known for. It comprises 47 books, which follow a family for generations from the 16th century until present day as they battle a terrible curse.

In 1980, a publisher, "Bladkompaniet", suggested that Margit Sandemo write a series of historical novels. She initially wasn't excited about the idea, and decided to continue writing novel series for magazines, but, in her own words, changed her mind in 1981 when she saw a picture of a medieval church painting in a newspaper. It showed a woman making butter in a

Trollrunor

Trollrunor (English Magical Runes; this series has not been translated into English) is a historical series of novels which takes place in Österlen, Sweden in the end of Middle Ages. Main characters of Trollrunor are a young girl named Iliana and her partner Ravn, who is a younger son of evil lord Bogislav. Their enemy is the malicious Moon Witch. First part of this set of books came out 2005, and it has been published in Swedish and Norwegian. Trollrunor includes eleven books, and nine of them have been published until this date. The eleventh book will be published 26 November 2007 in Norway and a few weeks later in Sweden.^{[needs update]}

Books published in English