An Elderly Lady is up to No Good

Maud struggles to decide where to travel next, as she has already seen most of the world. Earlier in her life, she could not travel. After her parents died, the care of her sister, Charlotte, who experienced mental illness, was left entirely to Maud. Only after Charlotte’s death was Maud able to begin traveling.

Before her father’s death, Maud was very happy. She was engaged to a man called Gustaf Adelsiöö. Gustaf was from a noble family, and Maud was delighted at the prospect of marrying him and moving away from her family home, where her mother’s anxiety and her sister’s mental health disorder created both emotional and practical burdens. When Maud’s father died and his financial ruin was exposed, Gustaf broke off the engagement.

Maud was devastated, and her burdens at home increased exponentially. World War II broke out, her depressed mother took to her bed and eventually died, and Charlotte refused to step foot outside the apartment. Charlotte spent much of her time overmedicating herself and sleeping. Maud worked long hours at a girls’ school and did what she could to provide for them. She used their mother’s ration book as long as she could after their mothers’ death.