Lovisa Mathilda Roos was born 2 August 1852, in Stockholm. Her parents were Malte Leopold Roos (1806–1882), a colonel at Svea Artillery Regiment, and Mathilda (Tilda) Beata Meurk (born 1821). She was educated at home and at Åhlinska skolan. Remaining unmarried, she lived with his sister Anna and sometimes also with Laura Fitinghoff, with whom she built the Furuliden house in Stocksund, which later became, as she had hoped, a rest home for women.[2]
Roos was a member of the women's association Nya Idun and one of its first committee members.[3][2]
Roos' novels usually dealt with women's issues and their unfair treatment in society. She was not afraid to address sensitive subjects at that time including lesbian love in Den första kärleken (The First Love). A religious crisis in the 1880s affected her later books. In the novel Hvit ljung (White Heather), she takes up the unclear living conditions of a teacher and rape. This is considered to have contributed to a government decision that greatly improved teachers' salaries. In women's political pamphlets, she addressed Ellen Key's ideas, Ett ord till fröken Ellen Key och till den svenska kvinnan (A word to Miss Ellen Key and to the Swedish woman), 1896. Roos died 17 July 1908, in Danderyd.
Heggestad, Eva (1991). Fången och fri: 1880-talets svenska kvinnliga författare om hemmet, yrkeslivet och konstnärskapet. Uppsala: Avd. för litteratursociologi vid Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, Univ. ISBN91-85178-19-5SELIBR7746142(in Swedish)
Borgström, Eva (2005). "Erotisk språkförbistring: om queera läckage i Mathilda Roos 1880-talsromaner". Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap (1988) 2005(34):3,: pp. 67–88. 1104–0556. 1104-0556. SELIBR10059185
Borgström, Eva (2006). "Förord". Två berättelser om kärlek / (2006): pp. 5–14. SELIBR10224536
Nordlinder, Eva (1993). "Socialismens blomma i lifvet": arbetarfrågan i Mathilda Roos senare produktion". Läsebok/Carina Lidström (ed.); editing committee: Boel Westin ... (Stockholm : B. Östlings bokförl. Symposion, 1993): pp. 187–198, 305. SELIBR1996026
Samuelsson, Jenny (1996). Skisser och berättelser: om kvinnoproblematiken i noveller ur Elin Ameens, Mathilda Roos' och Sophie Elkans 1880-talsproduktion. Göteborg: Univ., Litteraturvetenskapliga inst. SELIBR9219885
Sarri, Margareta (1982). Kärlek eller arbete?: om "Kvinnofrågan" hos Mathilda Roos - "Sveriges utan gensägelse främsta författarinna". Stockholms universitet. Litteraturvetenskapliga inst. SELIBR12655638
Storckenfeldt, Sigrid (1908). Mathilda Roos: lefnadsteckning hämtad ur hennes bref och dagboksanteckningar. Stockholm. SELIBR1510218