Anna-Clara Tidholm

tions are in subdued colours and
framed with powerful water-colour
brush-strokes. They are not fully
as boundless as the illustrations in
the book on Ugri-La-Brek which
are perfectly in harmony with the
story. In this case the conflict takes
place within and between people.
The whole world is to be found in
Katrineholm. Marjan loves Rolf
who is a robber living in the mountains,
a wildman who never washes
his hair. He is a solitary boy who is
without a mother and who has run
away from everything. But Marjan’s
father, who is a policeman, arrests
Rolf and locks him up. It is only
when Marjan saves Rolf that he can
accept that she, a girl, can also be a
robber in the forest.
When the hour of liberty chimes
for the two children there is no
longer a frame to keep them within
the picture. They are standing on a
mountain with an optimistically red
sky in the background.
“Vill ha syster!” (Want Sister!,
1991) is more difficult to interpret.
It deals with a small boy, one of
Anna-Clara’s round-eyed, serious
boy figures in a stripy T-shirt. He
has no name but is called “you”.
He tells his parents that he wants
a sister and they promise him one
in due course. But time passes and
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“Vill ha syster!” (Want sister!)
when he feels most lonely and sad
he discovers a house that he has
never seen before. An old man and
his wife live there and they invite
the boy in. He stays in the chaotic
house for several days. One day is
green and he can play in the Tivoli
Woods that are in the house. One
day is blue and he bathes in the
Blue Sea. One day is yellow and
he plays alone in the burning sand
of the Sunshine Land. Then he
feels homesick and, in spite of the
protests of his hosts, he leaves them
and the old man and his wife shrink
and disappear entirely, as does the
house. The boy takes a newly laid
bird’s egg with him and goes home
– to discover that he has just got
a little sister. “– I know, you say.
It was hard work. But it was very
strange and exciting too.” On the