She was born in 1848. Her father, Jonas Bernhard Runsten, was a pastor and a member of parliament. She was brought up on a large farm in
Sollefteå where she studied astronomy, religion, literature, She married
Conrad Fitinghoff who was a wealthy businessperson. They lived in a large house in
Ekensholm. Fitinghoff's only surviving child
Rosa was born in
Torsåker parish. Conrad was an indulgent father who gave Rosa a herd of reindeer and a steamboat as a baptismal gift. However, by the time Rosa was eight the family fortune was gone and they moved to a smaller house in
Blekinge. Rosa was devoted to her mother. Her first book was about five sisters who, like her, lived in a vicarage and
A small world among the mountains was said to be the first book in Swedish for children with a Nordic setting. Her following books were usually aimed at women and children and like
A small world among the mountains they were frequently based on her own experiences. Her books illustrators included
Jenny Nyström and
Hilma af Klint and in 1891 her novel
Vårluft won second prize in a literary competition.)
Children from Frostmofjället was her best known book. It concerned seven poor orphans travelling together with a goat, their food source, during
the 1860s in northern Sweden. The story was translated into a number of languages and made into the 1945 film
Barnen från Frostmofjället. As well, the goat character,
Gullspira, would, in time, be the namesake of an award for Swedish children's filmmakers. She died in 1908 and her daughter Rosa who had become her mother's assistant went on to also become a writer. Rosa paid for her father's remains to join Laura's in 1938 In 1927 her book,
Children from Frostmofjället, was translated into English as
Children of the Moor by
Siri Andrews. The
Laura Fitinghoff Society, founded in 2008, ==References==