Rose Lagercrantz was born in 1947 in Stockholm. She published her first work, Tullesommar (Tulle’s summer), in 1973, taught at the Children’s Theater at Medborgarhus in Södermalm until 1987, and has worked in radio and television. While probably best known as an author of sensitive and provocative literature for children or young adults in the tradition of Astrid Lindgren, particularly in her presentation of girls about to enter adolescence, she has also published novels for adults and an introductory guide to Jewish traditions. In the first of her novels for adults, Sång for en svartfe (Song for a black fairy), and in several other works, including the young adult novel from which the following excerpt is drawn, the dark fate of her German Romanian parents in World War II is presented. Her second adult novel, Adeline, eller resten av min ungdom (Adeline, or the rest of my childhood), won the Vi Magazine Literature Prize in 1992. Klassen som pratade för mycket (The class that talked too much, 1996) and Flickan som inte ville kyssas (The girl who didn’t want to kiss, 1998) are her latest children’s books. The latter story, based on the life of her father, won the August Prize of the Swedish publishers, and in 1979 she was awarded the coveted Astrid Lindgren Prize.