[2][7] While living in Stockholm in the 1870s, Forstén is known to have been friends with the Finnish noblewoman and actress Siri von Essen and her Swedish writer husband August Strindberg, in many of whose works she appeared.

[2][1] She is known later to have used her friendship with the former to pass on messages between Finnish politicians Danielson-Kalmari and Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen and the Russian Imperial Court, to advocate for constitutional reforms in Finland.

[2][1] Despite her privileged circumstances, she had a keen social conscience and empathised with the less fortunate, and was eager to perform, as well as to lecture on music, to general audience at public venues.

[2][1] Most of her fiction writing took place in the 1880s, with her notable works including Bland ödebygder och skär (1884), ”Sämre folk” (1885), En skaebne (1887), Med kärlek!

[2] She is considered a literary realist, with her major themes including women's rights and their subjugated position in society, as well as class conflicts.