Life in Every Breath: Ester Blenda: Reporter, Adventurer, Pioneer

Journalist Bremmer debuts with a tantalizing biography of Sweden’s first investigative reporter, Ester Blenda Nordström (1891–1948). In 1914, Nordström went undercover as a maid in rural Smörland County, documenting the harsh working conditions and poor pay that were contributing to the “so-called maid problem” as young women chose urban factory jobs or immigration to America over farm work. Nordström also lived for a year as a nomadic teacher among the indigenous Sami people of Lapland, publishing articles and a book that “showed solidarity and connection with the native northern people,” Bremmer writes, but also romanticized their “peculiar lifestyle” and strengthened the position of those who argued that the Sami should be segregated from the rest of Swedish society in order to preserve their culture. In addition to her reportage, Nordström wrote a series of children’s books starring an “impulsive wild child” named Ann-Mari Lindelöf, a precursor to Pippi Longstocking. Throughout, Bremmer tracks the ups and downs of Nordström’s long, secret love affair with Carin Wærn Frisell, at a time when homosexuality “was both punishable by law and classified as a mental disorder.” Richly textured and vividly told, this is an intriguing portrait of a pioneering woman and her era. Photos. (Oct.)