Meet the Author : Maria Bouroncle
It Came to Me On A Whim
1. How did you feel when you found out about the case?
It Came to Me on a Whim tells the story of my great-aunt who killed her three children in a small Swedish village in 1929.The story and what happened that day was a well-kept family secret for seventy years. I stumbled upon it back in 1999, as one of my cousin’s patients asked if we were related to “that old murderess Ingeborg”. We both knew her very well as children, since Ingeborg lived with our grand-parents, but we had no idea she had been married or had any children, let alone three.
I was 34 years old at the time and had just given birth to my daughter. I simply couldn’t grasp the news and it wasn’t until my father passed away twelve years later, that my thoughts of Ingeborg resurfaced. I finally decided to ask my relatives what happened, and I began digging through the archives.
2. I admire your bravery in telling this story. How did your family members react after having kept it secret for so long?
It was never my intention to write a book about Ingeborg. However, after years of research to shed light on the tragedy and trying to understand how a woman I’d loved as a child could have committed such a horrific crime, I got truly obsessed with the story.When I contacted my family, I learned that my mother, aunts, and uncles all knew that Ingeborghad killed her children but they didn’t know when, how, why, or where or what happened afterwards. They all had their own theories and explanations or had heard rumors from others. But everyone was very reluctant to talk about it when I first started to ask questions.
3. Why do you think Ingeborg did it?
Ingeborg’s prison doctor diagnosed her with schizophrenia with depressive episodes, but I am not sure he was right. In those days, all Swedish women with any mental health issues were given one of two diagnoses, either hysteria for upper-class women, or schizophrenia, for all others. I have wondered if it could have been a post-partum depression or bipolar disorder.
4. Why do you think the family decided to keep it secret?
From the beginning, it seemed people attributed the murders to mental illness.Maybe my great-grandparents felt shame or fear of being associated with that?Or maybe they felt partly responsible for what happened and wanted to protect their daughter? The photos of the children weredestroyed and their gravestone buried. On the other hand, relatives ofIngeborg’s husband, Artur’s, side,were remarkably understanding and kind to Ingeborg. I wonder if as in-laws they felt no shame? It was one of Artur’s descendants that eventually gave me the letters Ingeborg wrote to Artur from prison. These letters are incorporated into the novel.
5. Do you think this tragedy could have been prevented?
I do. Ingeborg was happily married, but from the medical records and the psychiatric examination, it is clear that she did not feel well for several months before the murders. She stopped talking with her neighbors and got scared of people she didn’t know. From what I understand, she must have been deeply depressed. But at the time, especially on the countryside, there was little to no knowledge about mental illness.There were no psychologists, psychiatrists or medication available.
6. The family still reacted kindly to Ingeborg right after the murders, packing her lunch and making sure she was warm for the ride after her arrest. Do you think they were just in shock?
They were obviously in shock, but they also knew Ingeborg and understood that she was ill, not evil. That says a great deal about them and the society at the time.As ManilSuri, American author of bestseller The Death of Vishnu, puts it: “Maria Bouroncle takes us deep into a story of real-life murder to show us the humanity – even love – behind the crime. A riveting read – haunting, atmospheric, and ultimately, heart-breaking”.
7. Why is this story significant to tell outside of your family?
After the murders, Ingeborg is taken into custody and the reader follows her journey through court, prison and ultimately, a mental facility. I wanted to provide a glimpse of the incarceration system and mental care at the time. Despite their rigid structures, I was struck how well Ingeborg was treated.When asked why she killed her children, she simply replied: “It Came to me on a Whim”.Throughout the story, she fights for forgiveness and refuses to lose the love of her life. Will her husband ever answer her prayers and take her back? Despite the tragic event at the center of the story, I wanted it to be a book about forgiveness and remind everyone of the importance of the kindness of strangers.
8. How much research did you have to do to write the book?
I spent seven years researching and writing the book. As you can imagine, it was an unusual and dramatic event taking place in such a small Swedish village at the time, so it is very well documented. Local and even national newspapers wrote about it.Ingeborg was called the ”Vesene murderess” in the media. In addition, police interrogations and court records are preserved. I have read the psychiatric examination from the women’s prison and the medical records from the mental hospital. In addition, the priest wrote a diary that I have been able to read. He officiated Ingeborg and Artur’s wedding, he baptized their children and he was also the one who buried them. However, it wasn’t until an old relative passed me the letters Ingeborg wrote to her husband from prison that I knew I had to put her words on paper. I’ve included these letters in my book and in one of them, she writes:I think about the children all the time and about you but forgive me I didnt know what I was doing O God if it could be undone.
9. What do you hope your readers will get out of this story?
Ingeborg was born in 1901. Her parents were farmers, and she was the second to youngest of seven siblings. She went to primary school for six years and when she was 23 years old, she got married to the boy next door, who was a relatively well-to-do farmer. Artur was seven years her senior and seems to have been a modern and kind man. Pretty soon after their beautiful wedding, they had three children together, two boys, and one girl. But Tor only lived to be five years old. Efraim was three and Lucia was only one year old when their mother killed them.
I’ve tried to capture this troubling story without too many gruesome details. By letting my narrative jump back and forth between different time periods, as Ingeborg’s thoughts probably did, I hope to put the reader inside her mind to understand her, just like I’ve tried to do. I’ve dedicated my book to Tor, Efraim, and Lucia, and it’s my sincere hope that Ingeborg’s story will bring mental health issues
to the light.
10. What is your favorite book?
It is hard to choose one single book, but one of my favorites is Beloved by Toni Morrison.
The Kindle edition of It Came to Me on a Whim was published by Saga Egmont International on July 19, 2022, and is available in all the usual places including HERE. The paperback will be released shortly.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/it-came-to-me-on-a-whim-the-story-of-ingeborg-andersson-child-murderess-maria-bouroncle/1141727720?ean=9788728446089
About Maria Bouroncle:
Maria is a Swedish author. An economist by profession, she spent over 25 years in the field of international development before publishing her first novel in 2018. It Came to Me on a Whim has beentranslated into several languages and is currently used on the Scandinavian Crime Literature course at UCLA – University of California in Los Angeles.
The book was inspiration for the short documentary film “The Child Murderess of Vesene” by director Carl Eneroth, which has won numerous prizes, including “Best Documentary Short” in Budapest (1922), London, Miami and New Jersey(1921).
Maria lives in Washington, DC.
For more information visit Maria’s website, find her on Facebook and Instagram or follow her on Goodreads and LinkedIn.
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