Kajsa: Augusta’s Granddaughter (Book 2)
By Judit Martin
“Kajsa,” the sequel to “Augusta’s Daughter,” is the frank and compassionate exploration of the life of Kajsa, the young Swedish girl who is Augusta’s granddaughter. Her story is set in the mid 1800s in rural Sweden and is told with painstaking historical accuracy. This was a chaotic time period in which Europe was struggling to overcome famines and oppressive governments with their religious counterparts, as well as confronting societies with sexual prejudices and inequalities. As a reader, I found that Kajsa’s story had a special poignancy. It was a parallel telling of my own family history. My great-great grandmother (coincidentally named Kajsa-Lisa) also lived a life with very similar hardships and her son was one of the thousands of Swedes who immigrated to America. Thus “Kajsa” brilliantly illuminated, often with harsh truths, the picture of my own family history.
-Don Thomas
Although born in America, Judit Martin has lived in rural Sweden for nearly fifty years. As a single mother, she raised her two daughters while teaching English and working as a weather observer for the Swedish weather bureau. She has written a number of short stories in English, as well as two documentary books in Swedish. “Augusta’s Daughter,” her first published novel, depicts the life of peasant women in nineteenth century Sweden. Thereafter, “Kajsa” follows Augusta’s illegitimate granddaughter, an infant in the first book, into womanhood. Although a sequel, “Kajsa” can be read independently of “Augusta’s Daughter.”
