Flowering Nettle (Swedish: Nässlorna blomma) is a partly autobiographical novel written by the Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson in 1935 and first translated into English by Naomi Walford in 1936. The Flowering Nettle is the story of parish boy Martin Tomasson and his fate on the various farms to which he is assigned. Nässlorna blomma är berättelsen om sockenpojken Martin Tomasson och hans öden på de olika gårdar dit han ackorderas ut. Han förlorar i stort sett alla människor som betyder någonting för honom och hans ensamhet ter sig avgrundsdjup. Men mitt i en närmast ofattbar övergivenhet så besitter den lille pojken en övertygande envis och okuvlig överlevnadsvilja - en förmåga att trots allt söka det ljusa i tillvaron.
Author
Harry Martinson (May 6, 1904 – February 11, 1978) was a Swedish sailor, author and poet. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974, "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos.", together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson. The choice was very controversial, as both Martinson and Johnson were members of the academy and had partaken in endorsing themselves as laureates. He has been called "the great reformer of 20th century Swedish poetry, the most original of the writers called 'proletarian'." Detailed Biography: http://authorscalendar.info/harrymar.htm
