Life in Every Breath

An award-winning biography of one of the first undercover journalistsa pioneering Swedish woman who lived a fascinating life of adventure and forbidden love and who changed journalism forever. Born in 1891 in Stockholm, Ester Blenda Nordstrom defied stereotypes from an early age. She wore trousers, smoked a pipe, and rode motorbikes, much to the chagrin of her esteemed family. As a young woman, she captivated the public as Swedens first investigative journalist. Esters real passion was uncovering the truth, which she did by inhabiting the lives of others. Under an assumed identity, she toiled as a Swedish milkmaid on a farm, lived for six months with the Indigenous Scandinavian Sami people, and journeyed to America alongside poor emigrants aspiring to a better life. She saved villages from starvation during the Finnish Civil War and joined an expedition to study volcanoes in Siberia. Her groundbreaking reports were received by a spellbound audience and would change journalism forever. But just as Esters star was rising, her forbidden love affair with a woman ended in heartbreak, nearly destroying her. Her spectacular adventures and untamed heart concealed an inner turmoil that threatened to silence her powerful voice, but Esters life and spirit were ultimately irrepressible. Life in Every Breath brings Esters story back to the foreand showcases one of the most fascinating women of the twentieth century.