Selma Lagerlöf - The Christmas Guest

From the author of the world-famous stories about Nils Holgersson
By Selma Lagerlöf
Magically illustrated by Ulrike Möltgen
Island Library No. 1526

112 pages with numerous illustrations. Hardcover. 18 cm.

Christmas in Sweden, when there were still real winters:
This volume brings together the most beautiful Christmas stories by Selma Lagerlöf, author of "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson and the Wild Geese." Her stories are among the classics of the genre. The Insel Library edition includes, among others, "The Holy Night," "The Dream Pancake," and "The Legend of the Christmas Rose."
All texts have been newly translated by Hanna Granz , and with the atmospheric illustrations by Ulrike Möltgen, you can look at and read the stories together during Advent: Christmas as it used to be!

Selma Lagerlöf , born in 1858, immersed herself as a child in the legends of her native Värmland. Her first novel, "Gösta Berling," is now one of the world's most widely read Swedish books. She achieved worldwide fame with her "Christ Legends," "Jerusalem," and "Nils Holgersson." In 1909, she became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

In 1881, against her father's wishes, she ventured to Stockholm to train as a teacher, thus beginning her journey into the world. She became a teacher in Landskrona, southern Sweden, and from there undertook her first travels. She shared a friendship and love with Sophie Elkan, with whom she traveled extensively, and equally with Valborg Olander, who shared her daily work life in Värmland. The busy writer and landowner campaigned for women's suffrage, and from 1914 for peace and pacifism, and from 1933 for refugees from Germany such as Nelly Sachs. During the Winter War of 1939, her commitment was to supporting Finland before she died on March 16, 1940, on her estate in Mårbacka.

Ulrike Möltgen , born in Wuppertal in 1973, studied communication design under Wolf Erlbruch. She taught as a lecturer at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen; her work has received numerous awards and been exhibited. Ulrike Möltgen became known through The Moon Bear; her most recent books, The Little Häwelmann and The Gift of the Magi, were published by Insel-Bücherei. She lives in Wuppertal with her son.

More about Christmas in Scandinavia ...