The Wonderful Adventure of Nils Holgersson

A masterpiece… It showed me that a book could be an adventure – Gary ShteyngartA childhood favorite – Philip GourevitchAmong women novelists of great talent or genius, none, in my opinion, is to be placed higher than Selma Lagerlöf – Marguerite YourcenarEvery book of this great storyteller keeps on bringing us astonishing examples of her art… No one in Europe can tell tales so unforgettably – Hermann HesseI 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 OeGrand, beautiful, exciting and poignant… This wise, rich text is a welcome addition to Penguin’s Classics series – Philip Womack * Guardian *

Selma Lagerlöf (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.