Helen Lundstroem Erwin

Sour Milk in Sheep's Wool Helen Lundstroem Erwin

Sweden, at the turn of the 20th century. Two women, an unwed mother and a suffragette, living lives so different from each other it's as if they were separated by time, not just circumstance. They don't know it, but destiny is pulling them toward each other and their fates are interlinked.




Anette spins lies to hide that she's an unwed mother with many children. And with different fathers for most of them, a staggering truth she can barely admit even to herself. Without the ability to protect herself from unwanted pregnancies, she moves each time she gets pregnant, telling the same tale as always, she's a widow.




Hanna closes her café for the night and opens the door to her activist friends, creating a space safe from curious husbands and disapproving eyes. Inspired by the pioneer temperance woman Emelie Rathou, who linked alcohol abuse with the oppression of women, they join forces with the rest of the nation and the world and begin the long fight for Women's Suffrage.




Helen Lundström Erwin, author of the acclaimed James' Journey, has created a well-researched, and riveting second historical novel. By introducing revolutionary women like Elise Ottesen-Jensen, the co-founder of International Planned Parenthood Federation, you'll be transported back in time, joining our foremothers while they fight for reproductive justice and the right to vote.




"A well written and interesting historic drama which paints a vivid picture of the challenges an unmarried young mother could face at the end of the 19th century. The way Helen Lundström Erwin depicts the life, struggles and meager pay of "statare" in rural Sweden makes you understand why so many opted for a more uncertain future across the Atlantic."

- Swedish American Museum, Chicago




"A timely and poignant look into her own history, Lundström Erwin's weaving of these women's stories serves to remind us that we modern torchbearers of reproductive rights owe an insurmountable debt to the women who came before us. And while today we fight to hold on to the choices we have, we must always remember those who have none."

- Women's Health Volunteer