Britt-Mari Pours Out Her Heart (Swedish: Britt-Mari lättar sitt hjärta) is Astrid Lindgren’s very first published book which saw the light in 1944. It’s one of her lesser-known works aimed primarily at teens rather than children.
It is a Slice of Life story told by Britt-Mari Hagström, a fifteen-year-old girl from a small Swedish town, in her letters to a pen friend in Stockholm.
The novel includes examples of:
- Absent-Minded Professor: Britt-Mari’s father is a school principal and her mother is a translator, and they are both extremely absent-minded in daily life.
- Annoying Younger Sibling:
- Svante constantly pranks and teases and snarks at Britt-Mari (though she is quick to retaliate). Since they are the closest in age among the Hagström siblings (she is only a year older than him), it’s natural they often clash with each other. Britt-Mari says she fights with him more than with anyone else among her siblings and loves him best of them all.
- Jerker is like that, in turn, towards Svante. He is fond of collecting absolutely everything in his room, and when Svante found a dead rat in his bed, he asked that Jerker would be given a room of his own.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: So, remember Svante? The one brother who constantly fights with Britt-Mari? When Bertil suddenly dumps her and she is heartbroken, he is the one who finds out why. And as the reason was some Malicious Slander spread by Stig, Svante regrets he isn’t strong enough to personally make the latter pay.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Three-year-old youngest Hagström child Monica, doted on by everyone.
- Benevolent Boss: Mariann’s mother is very polite with her servants and treats them well, but Britt-Mari notices there is no warmth and no Hired Help as Family feeling in the Udden household.
- Big Damn Heroes: Britt-Mari saves Mariann from drowning. Ironically, though she has often daydreamed about doing something heroic, she views the real thing as no big deal and is rather embarrassed by all the praise.
- Bookworm: One of the things that unites the Hagström family is their unending love for books. When she sees that there are no books among the expensive presents received by Mariann, Britt-Mari muses that she couldn’t imagine not getting any books for her birthday.
- Damsel out of Distress: When Stig assaults her, Britt-Mari fights him off using jujitsu moves she has practiced with Svante.
- Epistolary Novel: Except for the first chapter, it is entirely comprised of Britt-Mari's letters.
- Evil Is Angular: In a Russian illustrated edition, all the characters are drawn with round faces, but Stig's face is angular with narrow eyes and a sharp chin.
- High-School Sweethearts: Discussed by Britt-Mari. Consciously she understands that she and Bertil aren’t making any plans for long-time commitment and shouldn’t be doing so, and she may well end up with someone else, but then (she asks her friend), history has seen cases of High-School Sweethearts getting Happily Married, hasn’t it?
- Hired Help as Family: Alida, the live-in Kindly Housekeeper, is considered to be one of the Hagströms. She has been with them for many years.
- Historical Beauty Update: When Mayken dresses up as Marie-Antoinette, Britt-Mari muses that the real queen must have been much less beautiful, because otherwise nobody would have had the heart to execute her.
- Innocent Awkward Question: When Mayken's boyfriend visits the Hagströms, Mayken's three-year-old sister Monica asks him if he is in love with Mayken (since fourteen-year-old Svante, another Hagström sibling, says he is). The family manages to somehow salvage the conversation, but when the boyfriend leaves, Monica asks Mayken again if he is in love with her and adds that Svante says so. Mayken gets back at Svante by pranking him.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Spoiled Alpha Bitch Mariann is revealed to be a rather lonely girl who longs to have true friends.
- Karma Houdini: Downplayed, as by modern standards Stig really gets off pretty lightly for Attempted Rape of Britt-Mari, having never been so much as charged with it (if anything, even she views the fact that he slandered her before Bertil as the worse crime of the two). Although Bertil does beat him up very heavily.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Britt-Mari is the second oldest of five children.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Bertil, in a moment of shrewdness worthy of an opera character, completely believes Stig when the latter says Britt-Mari has cheated on Bertil with him.
- Mood Whiplash: The story is generally lighthearted, but there are two moments that clash with the rest significantly:
- When the Hagström family gives shelter to a family of German Jewish refugees (remember that the book was published in 1944). When Britt-Mari describes the Broken Bird mother and children (the father of the family has disappeared and probably was Killed Offscreen in Germany) in her letter and recalls how they seemed to have lost the feeling of safety, she completely breaks down in tears.
- When Stig lures Britt-Mari to his room in the boarding-house and assaults her. Even Britt-Mari’s short description of it sounds very creepy.
- Plain Jane: Britt-Mari considers herself rather ordinary-looking and believes Mayken to be the beautiful one of the family. However, she doesn’t fret over it too much, especially as she is aware three boys have long-standing crushes on her.
- Popularity Cycle: Mariann picks a new "friend" every day to make fun of the rest of the class (eventually, she gets better).
- Practically Different Generations: The eldest Hagström daughter Mayken is nineteen in the beginning and the youngest one Monica is three.
- Promotion to Parent: Mayken, the eldest Hagström child, runs the household and takes care of her younger siblings. Her parents are alive and well, they’re just a bit too absent-minded for such things.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
- Britt-Mari has long decided that she will marry someone "who loves children and books".
- Gender-inverted with Bertil, who values honesty and devotion above all.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: For a costume party in honour of her mother’s birthday, Britt-Mari dresses up as Little Lord Fauntleroy.
- Unwitting Pawn: Good-hearted but rather dim Åke admits, when prompted by Stig and Bertil, that he saw Britt-Mari leaving Stig's room. He has no idea that Britt-Mari was tricked into going there by Stig and that now the latter has told Bertil she went there on her own accord.
- Villainous Crush: Rich Bastard Stig, the only really villainous character present in the book, is very attracted to Britt-Mari.
