🎄 Festive Review ~ A Book for Christmas by Selma Lagerlöf

 

Penguin Press

7 November 2024

Thanks to the publishers for the opportunity to read this book

An enchanting selection of Christmas tales by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish national treasure – now available in English for the first time

‘But what shall I do on Christmas night if nobody has given me a book?’

A little girl receives a gift to treasure; the creatures of the forest gather to celebrate the New Year; an evil noblewoman schemes against her beautiful niece; a cantankerous gravedigger dines with an unexpected companion on Christmas Eve…

In this enchanting selection of winter stories, now available in English for the first time, the beloved writer Selma Lagerlöf weaves together magic and miracles, Swedish folklore and timeless fables, darkness and light, heartfelt joy and festive wonder.

Translated by Sarah Death, Peter Graves and Linda Schenck

🎄My Review..

This charming anthology of nine Swedish stories brings all the magic of a long ago Christmas. Perfectly capturing the early twentieth century each self contained short story is a delight to read. Some recreate so beautifully like, in A Book for Christmas, the joyful anticipation of receiving a book to read on Christmas Eve, whilst Redbreast shares a poignant Christian message of how the Robin finally got his redbreast. Not all the stories are particularly festive but they all gel together so beautifully that it didn’t detract from the overall effect.

At just ninety-six pages long, this is a little book with a big heart and I can think of nothing better than to settle down on a wintery afternoon to read this lovely book of short stories. Each of the stories have a message which I think is in keeping with the fact that the author was once a teacher as  I can well imagine her reading these little stories to a class enraptured by the magic of her storytelling.

Complete with magic, folklore and fables this is a special book to treasure.

About the Author

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 Wolf Holgersson and she was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in 1909.