The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils: A Classic Swedish Children’s Tale

Adventure through Sweden in this beautifully illustrated and sensitively abridged edition of Selma Lagerlöf’s classic Swedish tale.

When Nils is transformed from a boy into a tiny gnome, he finds himself on an epic adventure travelling the length of Sweden from Skane to Lapland. Soaring through the sky on the back of his family’s farmyard goose, Nils discovers the wild and the wondrous: from frozen lakes and snow-topped mountains to lost cities, new friends and dangerous foes — including a very wily fox set on revenge.

On his perilous journey, young Nils will need to earn the respect and love of his new companions if he is to ever to return home and become a boy again.

This is the preeminent illustrated edition of Nobel Prize-winner Selma Lagerlöf’s classic Swedish tale, which has been sensitively abridged for young readers. With its engrossing, exciting story and stunning full colour artwork from Lars Klinting, readers of all ages will be transported to the Sweden of over a century ago.

About the Author

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (1858-1940) was born in Mårbacka, in the province of Värmland in southern Sweden. Lagerlöf’s work is deeply rooted in Nordic legends and history. She rejected the dominating realistic movement and wrote her novels in a romantic and imaginative style about the peasant life and landscape of Northern Sweden. She wrote several books for children, the most popular of which is The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. In 1909, she became the first woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and, in 1914, she was appointed a member of the Swedish Academy.

Lars Klinting (1948-2006) was a beloved Swedish author and illustrator. He trained as a carpenter before he wrote and illustrated his first book. Lars created numerous children’s books including the Handy Harvey series, which became popular all over the world, and illustrated books by Astrid Lindgren and Selma Lagerlöf. He won the Elsa Beskow Plaque in 1987.

Joan Tate (1922-2000) was an acclaimed and prolific literary translator who worked on more than 200 books from the Scandinavian languages.