The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson

Description

Scandinavia's best-loved children's classic from the first female writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature Nils Holgersson is a naughty boy who tortures animals and never listens to his parents - until one day he wakes up as an elf. Deeply puzzled by his new status, he climbs on a gander's back and flies away with him, joining a flock of wild geese. As he is carried around Sweden, Nils learns everything about birds, animals, his country and good behaviour. Incredibly charming and poignant, The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson is a timeless classic loved by generations of children around the world.

Selma Lagerl f (Author) Selma Lagerl f (1858-1940) was a teacher in a girls' secondary school before she became a full-time writer. She is known around the world for her classic children's book The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson and she was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in 1909.

A masterpiece... It showed me that a book could be an adventure -- Gary Shteyngart A childhood favorite -- Philip Gourevitch Among women novelists of great talent or genius, none, in my opinion, is to be placed higher than Selma Lagerloef -- Marguerite Yourcenar Every book of this great storyteller keeps on bringing us astonishing examples of her art... No one in Europe can tell tales so unforgettably -- Hermann Hesse I am a strange Japanese who spent his infancy and boyhood under the overwhelming influence of Nils Holgersson. So great was Nils' influence on me that there was a time I could name Sweden's beautiful locales better than those of my own country... The destination of the soul: this is what I, led on by Nils Holgersson, came to seek in the literature of Western Europe -- Kenzaburo Oe Grand, beautiful, exciting and poignant... This wise, rich text is a welcome addition to Penguin's Classics series -- Philip Womack * Guardian *