Agneta Horn (18 August 1629 – 18 March 1672) was a Swedish writer born to noble parents and a military father.

She traveled a great deal throughout Europe in her lifetime as a result of living in a military family and later marrying another soldier.

[1] She was born on 18 August 1629,[2] in Riga in what is now Latvia, because her father was a Swedish military officer stationed outside of the country at the time of her birth.

In the spring when Gustav traveled to Germany with the military, Agneta and her mother returned to their Swedish home.

Therefore, from a young age, Agneta was exposed to Swedish military campaigns, particularly the war between Sweden and Denmark.

In 1634 Gustav Horn was captured by Imperialist military forces and held as a prisoner of war for eight years.

Her father remarried, and Agneta was raised for much of her childhood by Ebba Leijonhufvud, a "cold and heartless" aunt.

She had no interest in civilian men and wanted only to marry a soldier; allegedly, she rejected one non-military man by burning his own gloves and dousing him in hot wax.

Horn was an involved and prominent member of "religious life of her community" and was active in running her estates.

[6] The book is believed to have been written for personal, private readership, addressing both her stepmother Sigrid Bielke and her four children.

"[6] One can gather that Horn identified strongly with the Biblical Job, and related her own life's struggles to the constant hardships he experienced.

Yet quoting Job also demonstrates that she felt the proper response to challenges in her life was to endure and carry on despite suffering.

For instance, in some cases she combined the endings of traditional written and oral Swedish to form new versions of the words.

[6] Stephen A. Mitchell writes, "What is so very mistaken about such comments, of course, is that they tend to interpret [Horn’s] actions as the protagonist of the autobiography, rather than examining the delicate balance between the writer and her heroine".