Vanhojen neitien talo : Kertomus pyhimyksistä ja sankareista by Sven Lidman
"Vanhojen neitien talo : Kertomus pyhimyksistä ja sankareista" by Sven Lidman is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set around a decaying Stockholm townhouse nicknamed “Nelonen,” it portrays a small circle of aging gentlewomen whose lives and quarrels play out against a city’s march toward modernity and wealth. The story centers on the imperious Rosalie Pistolschiöld, the pinched and acquisitive Emma Wigelstjerna, the fragile and grieving Eurydike Berg, and the
more hesitant Marie-Louise Almgren. Through sharp portraits and moral reflections, it contrasts aristocratic pride, petty bourgeois habits, and wounded romanticism with the hard edges of contemporary urban life. The opening of the novel moves from brief meditations on truth and the schooling of the heart to a vivid, almost panoramic description of the old house on Malmberg Street and its disdainful, modern neighbors. We learn how a binding testament keeps the building untouched and shelters three elderly women in the top floor, marking it as a stubborn relic amid speculation and progress. The narrative then sketches the tenants: Rosalie (“Pistooli”) rises at dawn, inspects the courtyard and stables like a commander, and recalls a ceremonious upbringing under her punctilious court-official father; Emma’s backstory reveals a fussy, tightly managed childhood, a life devoted to furniture and propriety, and her calculated move into the house that sparks friction with Rosalie; finally, Eurydike appears in a dim, flower-crowded room, her hush contrasting the city’s glare, as her past unfolds—widowhood, children lost at sea, and roots in an old industrial-huguenot line—before the narrative breaks off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
