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  • Published: 7 March 2019
  • ISBN: 9781841599502
  • Imprint: Childrens Classics
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 328
  • RRP: $29.99

Heidi





The story of an irrepressible orphan girl in the Swiss Alps, written in 1880-81, has long been one of the most loved and best-selling children's classics in the world.

When Heidi, a five-year-old orphan, is dumped on her reclusive grandfather who lives on a remote mountainside above a Swiss village, he is none too pleased by her arrival. But Heidi quickly wins him over with her cheerful disposition and kindness, and thoroughly enjoys her new life, spending the summer days roaming the Alpine pastures with young Peter the goatherd. Three years later, this rural idyll is cruelly interrupted when her aunt fetches Heidi away to the city as a hired companion for Clara, a rich girl who is disabled. Clara adores her new friend, but the family's strict housekeeper tries to repress Heidi's high spirits and she becomes ill, pining for her mountain home. The resolution of Heidi's dilemma transforms the lives of everyone around her and has entranced readers for generations with its vision of the joys of country life and the power of love and friendship.

  • Published: 7 March 2019
  • ISBN: 9781841599502
  • Imprint: Childrens Classics
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 328
  • RRP: $29.99

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About the author

Johanna Spyri

Johanna Spyri was born in a country village in Switzerland in 1827. Her father was a doctor and she had five brothers and sisters. Later she moved to the capital Zurich to go to school and she eventually settled there with her husband Bernhard,who was a lawyer. Johanna began writing in 1871 and wrote many stories which quickly became very popular. Her husband and son both died tragically in 1884, but Johanna consoled herself with charity work and writing, as well as looking after her orphaned niece. She died in her Swiss village home in 1903. Heidi is Johanna Spyri's best known and most popular novel - it has been translated from German into over fifty languages and over fifty million copies have been sold worldwide.

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