"If you're giving one book for Christmas, make it this one." -Jim Trelease, author, The Read-Aloud Handbook They are some of the warmest childhood memories, those unhurried evenings around the fireplace, Christmas tree, or dinner table, when there was time for a story. Now, with this collection, you can keep the story-telling tradition alive in your family, and pass it on to your children or grandchildren. Home for Christmas includes twenty time-honored tales. Several are by world-famous authors; others are little-known treasures translated from other languages. Selected for their literary quality and spiritual integrity, they will resonate with readers of all ages, year after year. With original woodcuts by David Klein

"The stories come from all over the world and represent many genres, such as parables, animal fables, historical fiction, fairy tales, and Christian fantasy. Definitely read these stories at Easter, but keep the book close and pull it out whenever you and your family need a reminder of the great Easter themes of transformation, reconciliation and the triumph of life over death."—National Catholic Register Everyone who believes Easter is about more than bunnies and eggs will be grateful for this new collection of short stories that shed light on the deeper meaning of the season. Selected for their spiritual value and literary quality, these classic tales capture the spirit of Easter in a way that will captivate readers of all ages. Parents and grandparents will find that children love to hear these stories read aloud, year after year. Easter Stories includes time-honored favorites from world-famous storytellers such as C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Selma Lagerlof, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Goudge, Maxim Gorky, Ruth Sawyer, and Walter Wangerin – as well as many you’ve never heard before. Illustrated with original woodcuts.

In this second part of her notionally autobiographical trilogy, Selma Lagerloef broadens the perspective from the farm where she grew up to include the people and places around Lake Fryken in her beloved Varmland county. The personal creation myth which she began in Marbacka continues here with a focus on the self-discipline and imagination needed to fulfil a childhood ambition to become an author. It is hard work that sometimes means taking a stand against convention but also a deeply enriching process in a home steeped in storytelling and books. The mature author reveals the roots of the young bibliophile's growing skill in deploying fiction to manipulate and embellish reality, producing a wryly charming, tongue-in-cheek account that we should beware of taking at face value.

The stories of Jesus' birth and childhood are well known, but Selma Lagerloef brings them truly to life in this wonderful collection of tales for children. Her storytelling draws vividly on the colourful history and landscape of the Holy Land. She weaves in a cast of lively characters whose experiences and points of view are not usually represented: a war-hardened soldier at Herod's feast, a grumpy shepherd, Emperor Tiberius himself. Together they proclaim the human drama and divine mystery of the events of Christ's life. Previously published as The Emperor's Vision.

In this newly illustrated edition of the classic Swedish folk tale, Nils is shrunk to a tiny size by a dwarf, and carried across Sweden by a flock of wild geese to their summer home in the far North. Through many perils and exciting adventures, Nils wins the respect and love of the geese and finally returns home.

Ranging from Hans Christian Anderson to Karl Ove Knausgaard, have yourself a nordic noel with the very best Scandinavian Christmas tales Have yourself a truly Scandinavian Christmas... Of visions and prophesies seen in dark, dark woods. Of toys and trees come to life. Of trolls raising chaos, and of families torn apart -- only to be brought back together by festive cheer. In this collection, classic tales from Hans Christian Andersen and Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof blend with modern day stories from Karl Ove Knausgaard and Vigdis Hjorth. Each touch on the warm and wild spirit of Christmas, where the cosiness and contentment of the season can often give way to the unexpected, magical and sometimes mystical. A smorgasbord of strange literary gifts, let A Scandinavian Christmas transport you to a winter wonderland in which fantasy, the fantastic and the festive combine for your reading delight. 'These evocative, atmospheric tales...capture the spirit of Christmas' Sunday Express

Nils Holgersson's Wonderful Journey through Sweden (1906-07) is truly unique. Starting life as a commissioned school reader designed to present the geography of Sweden to nine-year-olds, it quickly won the international fame and popularity it still enjoys over a century later. The story of the naughty boy who climbs on the gander's back and is then carried the length of the country, learning both geography and good behaviour as he goes, has captivated adults and children alike, as well as inspiring film-makers and illustrators. The elegance of the present translation - the first full translation into English - is beautifully complemented by the illustrations specially created for the volume.

A Swedish "Gone with the Wind" by the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature--published here in the first new English translation in more than 100 years
One hundred years ago, Selma Lagerlof became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She assured her place in Swedish letters with this sweeping historical epic, her first and best-loved novel, and the basis for the 1924 silent film of the same name that launched Greta Garbo to stardom. Set in 1820s Sweden, it tells the story of a defrocked minister named Gosta Berling. After his appetite for alcohol and previous indiscretions end his career, Berling finds a home at Ekeby, an ironworks estate owned by Margareta Celsing, the "Majoress," that also houses an assortment of eccentric veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. Berling's defiant and poetic spirit proves magnetic to a string of women, who fall under his spell against the backdrop of political intrigue at Margareta's estate and the magnificent wintry beauty of rural Sweden.