Gertrud Lilja och Elisabeth Bergstrand-Poulsen i Långasjö

"Start all over again? Try a different way this time with softness and concession? [...] Go to America with Ola? Destroy the father's farm, sacrifice house and home for an adventurer [...] Go to hell! If one's heart was astray, one had to ask God for help." From the book "Women in the Family" by Gertrud Lilja 1936

The hiking trail passes Gertrud Lilja's road just at the entrance to Långasjö. The road leads to the house where the author grew up.

"Two famous authors, Elisabeth Bergstrand-Poulsen and Gertrud Lilja, come from Långasjö. Otherwise, the people are hard-working and well-behaved in every way." So wrote a pupil at Långasjö school in the 1950s. The truth is that the two women, who were both born in 1887, grew up in Långasjö, were close friends and were hardly lazy. They inspired each other to go out into the world and build careers as artists and writers. Both became successful. Elisabeth for her depictions of the people in her home parish in text and, above all, pictures, and for her visual art with religious motifs. Gertrud for her novels and short stories with strong portraits of women and a sharp critique of patriarchal society.

Source: Kalmar County Museum

The village hall opposite the church in Långasjö houses a library with Gertrud Lilja's room. Here you can also find the beautiful painting "The Seasons of Women" by Elisabeth Bergstrand-Poulsen. The altarpiece in Långasjö church and four paintings there are made by Elisabeth Bergstrand-Poulsen

Gertrud Lilja and Elisabeth Bergstrand-Poulsen are also depicted in the sculpture "Väninnorna" outside the hostel.