[1] Fredman's Epistles is a collection of 82 poems set to music; it depicts everything from Rococo-themed pastorale with a cast of gods and demigods from classical antiquity to laments for the effects of Brännvin-drinking, tavern-scenes, and apparent improvisations.

The lyrics, based on the lives of Bellman's contemporaries in Gustavian-age Sweden, describe a gallery of fictional and semi-fictional characters and events in Stockholm.

The Light under Gustav III 1771–1789", she narrates how Bellman's contact with the new king gave him a measure of real literary success, but that he limited his future by clinging to the Bacchanalian in his poems, as seen in his 1783 verse drama Bacchi Tempel.

Stefan Ekman of the University of Skövde, reviewing the book for 1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, notes that Bellman has two audiences in the 21st century: researchers and an educated [Scandinavian] public.

Bellman, he writes, spent his whole life in a Stockholm of 70,000 people and 700 taverns, barring brief visits to Uppsala and Södermanland (and possibly Norway to escape his creditors).

His life can, he notes, be accurately mapped to places in 18th century Stockholm; and he can be followed, too, via his often dire financial situation as his creditors relentlessly pursued him, including to debtor's prison.

In Norlén's view, Burman writes "eminently readable" prose, and "she occasionally makes striking comparisons to present-day phenomena", for instance likening the young authors around the king, who was interested in culture, to "teenage girls around a boy band".

Bellman was one of those around the king, writing homage pieces like Gustafs skål ('A toast to Gustav'), and relying on him for patronage, including a sinecure job with the state lottery.

[9] Mikael Timm, for Sveriges Radio, states that this is an imposing, definitive book; much has been written about Bellman, and Burman seems to have read all of it, with a "tsunami" of citations.

She finds Burman's language fantasy-rich, full of the sound of the 18th century, as the book depicts the poet whose life was poised between the gutter and genius.

Lekander notes the absurd in Bellman's life – for example, that this humane and witty man, hopeless with numbers, should find a job in the National Bank.

Burman added that Bellman was a fantastic poet, an excellent musician, and not bad at drawing either; he would be the perfect guest at a cocktail party, but too unpredictable to invite to Sweden's National Book Day.

[14] The historian Bo Eriksson [sv] writes that Burman's main strength is in literary analysis, highlighting the "voyeuristic attitude" of the Epistles, and the key role of metamorphosis in his poems.

[15] Hanna Höglund, reviewing the work for Göteborgs-Posten, writes that Burman intended to provide "a high, colourful window" into the cathedral of Bellman research, "where the sun shines in", and that in that aim she had succeeded.

12, "Gråt Fader Berg och spela"), where some of society's unfortunates seem absurdly to be dancing a courtly minuet, and that she barely touches on the subject again.