The window in Stockholm

"The Window in Stockholm" is the story of a young and still unknown Astrid Lindgren, who, despairing of the world, commences a war diary on September 1, 1939 – the day Hitler's army invaded Poland. By degrees and in conversation with herself, she discovers the healing power of writing. As World War II ends in catastrophe with the Holocaust, with millions dead and the destruction of Europe, her first book about the rebellious "Pippi Longstocking" is published.

Now, drawing on these war diaries from 1939-1945, Astrid Lindgren's daughter Karin, granddaughter Annika, and great-grandson Johan tell the true story behind the success of the world-renowned author. While reading and in conversation, her kin also learn of painful secrets in their famous ancestor's life.

Published in 2015 and translated into over twenty languages, Astrid Lindgren's wartime diaries remained unfound in her bedroom closet for 70 years. They're a unique document describing the horrors of dictatorship and terror from the perspective of a wife and mother who passionately appeals for humanity, peace and equality.

The attitude towards life in the privileged and 'neutral' Sweden of the day that Astrid Lindgren critically describes in her private writings is reminiscent of our attitude to life today. It emits a feeling often characterized by powerlessness or egoism leading only to tentative action, or even to a turning of a blind eye, in the face of the Russian war of aggression against the Ukraine, for example, or the refugee crisis and the genocide in many parts of the world.