Heidi
About this ebook
Heidi, a young orphan girl, is sent by her aunt to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. A reclusive man, he is known as the Alm-Uncle by the townsfolk he avoids and disdains. Although initially wary of Heidi’s presence, he soon softens, learning to love the young girl and to appreciate her inherent goodness and unusual intelligence. Although she wants to go to school, he refuses on account of his distrust of the town and its people. Despite this, Heidi befriends a neighboring family—a young goatherd named Peter, his mother Brigitte, and her elderly mother—who eventually accept her as one of their own. When her aunt Dete returns to take her to Frankfurt, however, her newfound life in the country is exchanged for one of service in the city. There, she works as a companion for Clara, the crippled daughter of a wealthy family. The two become fast friends, and in exchange for her love and affection, Heidi is encouraged to learn reading and writing, as well as to study the teachings of Christianity. She misses the countryside, however, and longs to return to the Swiss Alps once more. Beloved by readers around the world for well over a century, Johanna Spyri’s Heidi is a classic tale of faith and friendship with lessons for children and adults alike.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Johanna Spyri’s Heidi is a classic of Swiss literature and children’s fiction reimagined for modern readers.
About the author
Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) was a Swiss writer of novels and stories for children. Born in the countryside near Zurich, she spent summers near Chur in the beautiful Grisonian Rhine Valley, a place which she would turn toward for inspiration and as a setting for her fiction throughout her career. She married the lawyer Bernhard Spyri in 1852, moving with him to Zurich where she launched her writing career with a story about domestic violence titled “A Leaf on Vrony’s Grave.” She made a name for herself as a writer of primarily children’s fiction, and much of her work concerns itself with the daily realities of rural life. After the death of her husband and only son in 1884, she primarily devoted herself to charities, though she still wrote stories until the end of her life. She is remembered today as a pioneering woman, devoted feminist, and important figure in Swiss literary history.
