The Lure of Water and Wood

Nikolaos was not human. He was Näcken, tethered to the river and cursed by an uncontrollable passion that drowned those who came near. Guised as a young man but older than anyone knew, he hid his torment over who he was. Näcken. Most knew him by that name. They heard his bewitching violin calling them from the waterways. It was too late then; there was nothing either he or they could do.

Rå was ancient. She had walked among the worshippers of Odin, Thor, and Freya. Caring for the trees and the forests, she hid her tree trunk back under her long brown hair. Men found her in the woods, unsure if she was a tree or a woman. When they came near, she opened a hole in her back, and they ran to her, wanting her. Rå harnessed their lust to feed the forests. She was Rå. Women knew her as Magda, a wisewoman.

Step into a world where diligent historical research melds with vivid imagination. Inspired by the sorcery trials that rippled through the highest courts, The Lure of Water and Wood is a journey across two centuries as experienced by Sweden’s most elusive mythological creatures. A time when Näcken and Rå were not figments of folklore but immortal entities that influenced the lives of people. A saga where the boundary between history and legend is tantalizingly blurred.

Sour Milk in Sheep's Wool

Now Available in Paperback, Kindle, and in brick and mortar bookstores.

Sweden, at the turn of the 20th century. Two women, an unwed mother and a suffragette, living lives so different from each other it’s as if they were separated by time, not just circumstance. They don’t know it, but destiny is pulling them toward each other and their fates are interlinked.

Anette spins lies to hide that she’s an unwed mother with many children. And with different fathers for most of them, a staggering truth she can barely admit even to herself. Without the ability to protect herself from unwanted pregnancies, she moves each time she gets pregnant, telling the same tale as always, she’s a widow.

Hanna closes her café for the night and opens the door to her activist friends, creating a space safe from curious husbands and disapproving eyes. Inspired by the pioneer temperance woman Emelie Rathou, who linked alcohol abuse with the oppression of women, they join forces with the rest of the nation and the world and begin the long fight for Women’s Suffrage.

Helen Lundström Erwin, author of the acclaimed James’ Journey, has created a well-researched, and riveting second historical novel. By introducing revolutionary women like Elise Ottesen-Jensen, the co-founder of International Planned Parenthood Federation, you’ll be transported back in time, joining our foremothers while they fight for reproductive justice and the right to vote.

James' Journey

The son of a slave owner turns abolitionist and becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

As fierce slavery debates are dividing the country, James Waynewright breaks family tradition and travels to New York to study. Having grown up on a tobacco plantation in Virginia he never questioned how his family’s wealth is generated. In the beginning he is shocked by what he feels are radical ideas of abolition and feels that Northerners have been subject to propaganda. As time goes on, James begins to understand their point of view, and he realizes that he no longer condones slavery.

James falls in love with Katherine Greenfield, an upper class New Yorker and an abolitionist. Due to unforeseen circumstances they hastily marry and return to the plantation. Intending to free their slaves, James and Katherine begin leading double lives in order to help runaways that are escaping north, at the same time having to navigate their neighbors’ increasing suspicion and the slave laws of their state.

James’ Journey is the realization that the foundation of the world he lives in is immoral. The paradigm that he has accepted all his life comes into such conflict with his epiphany that he becomes willing to risk everything to do what is right.

Read the Reviews of James' Journey on Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble,  and Goodreads

Officer Helga Hedgehog Meets the New Neighbors

One night, Officer Helga Hedgehog makes an amazing discovery.
Her new neighbors, the Space Specks, are actually aliens from another planet.
And they have a problem only she can solve...

Helen’s illustrations give you an immediate sense of Officer Helga Hedgehog’s personality.  You see it in Helga’s gentle smile when she opens her door when someone knocks. How she leaves it ajar with a stranger waiting outside.  Or in the way she shakes her leg when she gets excited.