The inhabitants are mostly fishers, farmers, sailors and craftsmen, a condensate of Scandinavian prewar society.īonadea lives in the orphanage outside of town but is not happy there. She lives in the small town of Tulavall on the coast of southern Finland some time at the end of the 1800s or early 1900s. This is a series of interconnected short stories centering on the precocious ten year old Bonadea (Her name means 'benevolent goddess'). The original version was first published in 1968. She is also on the IBBY Honour List for 2002[2īonadea is written by Finnish author Irmelin Sandman Lilius. Among the literary awards she has received are the Swedish awards Nils Holgerson-plaketten (in 1972), Astrid Lindgren-priset (in 1976) and Svenska Akademins pris (in 1987), and the Finnish awards Topeliuspriset (in 1980) and Statens barnkulturpris (in 1985). Her books have been translated into 16 languages.

In 2003, her biography of her husband was published, with the title Sjutusen år (Eng: 'Seven Thousand Years').

In 1957, she married the painter and sculptor Carl-Gustaf Lilius, and they were married until his death in 1998. She has also written several self-biographical works (some together with her sister Heddi), as well as novels with a heroine based on her daughter. Among her best-known works is the large chronicle about the fictive town of Tulavall on the south coast of Finland, which she has described in different times and from the point of view of different people, in more than a dozen books. She has written picture books and novels for children as well as books for adults and poetry, and she also works as a translator and reviewer. Her first book, Trollsång, was published in 1955. Irmelin Sandman Lilius is a Swedish-speaking Finnish author.

King Tulle by Irmelin Sandman Lilius