Public-domain ebook
Language: en2,680 downloads on Project Gutenberg
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In: Children & Young Adult Reading·Novels
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #46409.
Heidi is a nineteenth‑century Swiss novel that blends orphan and grand‑father narratives with vivid mountain life. The story opens on a bright June morning as a small, shivering girl in layered dresses and heavy shoes climbs a narrow path toward the Alm mountain with a companion named Dete. Their journey is interrupted by a talkative village woman, Barbel, who learns from Dete that the child’s destination is the reclusive “Alm‑Uncle,” a former farmer now living in isolation after a series of misfortunes. The opening scene establishes the rugged Alpine setting, the contrast between the child’s innocent curiosity and the adults’ gossip, and the looming mystery of the grandfather’s reputation, all of which frame the novel’s themes of resilience, community, and the healing power of nature.
The prose reflects Spyri’s gentle, descriptive style, rooted in the moral sensibilities of the 1800s. Her narration is straightforward yet lyrical, capturing the crisp mountain air and the simple joys of goat‑herding children. Readers who appreciate character‑driven tales set against a richly rendered landscape, especially those drawn to historical fiction, pastoral settings, or stories of youthful perseverance, will find Heidi’s blend of warmth and realism inviting.
The opening · free to read
There is here presented to the reader a careful translation of "Heidi," one of the most popular works of the great Swiss authoress, Madam Johanna Spyri. As particulars of her career are not easily gathered, we may here state that Johanna Heusser was born at Zurich, June 12, 1827. She wrote nothing in her youth. She was happily married to the Advocate Spyri. Later, the Franco-Prussian war evoked from her a book devised for a charitable purpose, and the success of this volume revealed her future. She died at her home in Zurich in 1891. Her fame has spread to all countries, and her many books have delighted not only the children for whom they were so artfully written, but they have become favorites with lovers of children as well.
As to "Heidi," itself, wherever mountains are seen or read about, the simple account of the early life of the Swiss child, amid the beauties of her passionately-loved home, will be a favorite book for younger readers and those who seek their good.
Johanna Spyri lived amidst the scenes she so gracefully described. In all her stories she shows an underlying desire to preserve her young readers alike from misunderstanding and the mistaken kindness that frequently hinders the happiness and natural development of their lives and characters.
Among her many works are the following: "Arthur and His Squirrel," "On Sunday," "From the Swiss Mountains," "A Scion of the House of Lesa," "The Great and the Small All May Aid," "From Near and Far," "Cornelius," "Lost but Not Forgotten," "Gritli's Children," 2 volumes, "Without a Country," "What Shall Then Become of Her?," "Sina," "From Our Own Country," "Ten Stories," 2 volumes, "In Leuchtensa," "Uncle Titus," "A Golden Saying," "The Castle Wildenstein," "What Really Happened to Her," "In the Valley of the Tilonne," "The Hauffer Mill."
M. H. M.
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