The true story about Sol-Lisa (part one):
It began on a cold January day in 1755, just outside Kopparberg in Sweden, where Elisabeth Ersdotter—called Lisa—was born into one of the wealthiest families in the region. As Lisa reached her twenties, she fell in love with a young, handsome farmhand named Jan. But her father forbade the relationship—Jan was of lower social class and thus unworthy. Lisa was warned: if her father ever caught them together, she would be beaten and disinherited.

Still, love found secret places. Despite being promised in marriage to a respected and wealthy inspector named Carl Gezelius—her parents' ideal match—Lisa continued to meet Jan in secret. When she became pregnant by Jan, panic took hold.

Lisa tried to hide the pregnancy through spring and summer. But rumors spread. When Carl confronted Lisa, she denied everything, and he believed her.

In October 1776, Lisa married Carl. Her pregnancy could no longer be hidden. Carl’s mother suspected something, but Carl continued to trust Lisa’s denials.

When labor began in secret on January 9, 1777, Lisa and her mother shut themselves in the brewhouse. After a painful delivery, a strong, healthy baby boy was born. But for Lisa, the child was a symbol of everything she had lost. She had hoped the baby would be stillborn.

Lisa’s mother considered showing the child to her husband but was stopped by Lisa, who threatened suicide. Left alone briefly with her newborn, Lisa looked at the child—the living evidence of her secret, her shame, her ruined future. And then she made a choice. She wrapped her hand around the baby’s throat and slowly squeezed until the crying stopped.

Sol-Lisa - Part 1 - The Silence in Her Hands

Johannes Hällegrim