My latest book
Brukets trädgård genom tiderna – perspektiv från världsarvet Engelbergs bruk
The book tells the history of the garden at Engelsberg ironworks – the beautiful 18th century gardens, later remade in to a garden in the gardenesque style – as well as the story of it´s owners. It also portraits the gardens wider cultural and horticultural perspective.
Richly illustrated. Publisher Stolpe 2023
Biblioteket
Tjolöholm – An enchanted House (available in English)
This book tells the story of Tjolöholm Castle; it´s architecture and interior design, the family who built it and the times in which it was built. Few places in Sweden can offer as many fascinating and capti-vating stories as Tjolöholm.
The book runs through time and space – from the mid-19th century to the 1960s. From Scotland to Fjärås and Ceylon. It reflects the spirit of the time and the world of ideas in a Sweden that is develop-ing from a peasant society into an industrial society with unwavering faith in the future.
Architecture and craftsmanship at the highest level in a magnificent facility that is a perfect blend of Swedish national romanticism and the British Arts & Crafts style that has come to the fore again to-day.
Open the door and enter into this fabulous and unique castle. Sneaked in between rocks and sea, it reigns as an alien bird in its Tudor style and heavy granite. The light dances in the large windows and inside are the rooms with their sumptuous but homely decor where the fires crackle in the corner of the fireplace. And meet the people who created it: Builder Blanche Dickson and architect Lars Israel Wahlman. Welcome to this enchanting world.
Votum publishing company 2021.
In my garden I want to be Karin – a practical garden story from Sundborn
This is my first book about artist Karin Larsson. Here we get acquainted with her, the Larsson family with seven children and their life in Sundborn. We follow Carl and Karin through their respective lives until they meet in the little French village of Grez sur Loing were they get engaged and live after their marriage until 1895 when they returned back to Sweden. In 1900, they moved to Sundborn and their house Lilla Hyttnäs for good, raised their family and created their respective art – Carl painting and Karin as a textile artist but also as a daring and experimental gardener – a skill she learnt mostly on her own. She had a vegetable garden as well as a flower garden and an orchard. In her garden as well as in her art she was inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement, connecting the house with the garden and the landscape around it. This book invites the reader on a journey through the ideas and artistic expressions of the time – the art of flower- and vegetable gardening and a glance at Karins daring choices of colour and simplicity that was the hallmark of her very own style.
Bonniers 2017.
A food book – inspiration, recipes and food history from Sundborn
In 1899, Carl Larssons book A home came out and welcomed us into the Larsson family and their surroundings in Sundborn. Many people, both in Sweden and in Europe became acquainted with them, their little village and their beautiful home in the Arts & Crafts style. In ”A food book” we are entering the kitchen were Karin had so many good – and sometimes less good – moments creating the family dinners and even a feast for Prince Eugen. When they married she could hardly boil an egg, but through the help of the women in the little French village of Grez-sur-Loing, her mother, friends and a lot of her own imagination she became a fantastic cook according to her daughters. The book is also a history of 19th century Swedish cooking and food and it is based on the letters between the family members. It includes many original and new recipes.
Publisher Carl Larssongården, 2018
A book about cakes, art and other sweet things
This is a book about the passion to create and of being content with everyday life – as William Morris puts it: ‘The secret of true happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life’. Here we meet Karin Larsson again through her correspondence with her mother, daughters and friends, writing about life – and baking cakes. While her husband Carl created paintings that show us their life, she created in other materials – flour, sugar, spices, forming delicious cakes. The old recipes were shared in the family as well as the recipes from old and close friends. From Karins´ sister Stina, who lived in Wimbledon with her British husband Frank Bather, sent both recipes and actual cakes with the post – not least the much loved Christmas Puddings that traversed the channel – for the Swedish family to enjoy. This book also forms a story about mothers, daughters and friends.
Carl Larssongården publishing. 2020.
In the tracks of the 19th and early 20th century gardeners – knowledge for a sustainable garden
In this books we follow the gardeners of the Victorian period and my own grandfather, born 1894 and trained in various large gardens and estates in the southern part of Sweden. The knowledge that he and his fellow gardeners had – and acquired – is a gift to pass on to gardeners of today. The methods they used, the huge variety of flowers and vegetables that gave a long season, their aim to create a good climate to enhance produce through the year but also their garden philosophy is still an inspiration for a gardeners and sustainability in the garden of today.
Natur & Kultur 2012, new edition 2022.
Snowdrops – a galanthophile love story
Written together with Gunnel Carlson. This book takes the reader through the history of snowdrops but it is also about the fascinating galanthophiles who discovered and collected new species, developed different varieties and spread their knowledge through to our time. It presents a good range of species and varieties.
Published 2020
Dahlias
Wild and passioned or austere and elegant – there is a dahlia for all tastes and personalites given the over 65 000 varieties available. The book tells the history af the dahlias – from the aztecan court of Montezuma though to the gardens in Europe and Sweden. It also gives hands on-advice on how to grow, arrange and store them. First published in 2010 and now in its third edition.
Natur & Kultur 2010, new edition 2017.
Books out of print
I have also written The green labyrinth: Labyrinths and mazes in gardens and human history 1999, The Chinese Garden 2003 and A cultural history of Flowers 2014 but they are out of stock and can be found only in antiquarian bookshops.
