The Short Fiction of Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Lagerlof brought the storytelling of her native Varmland into literature, and her shorter work shows the same gift for legend and moral weight that made her famous. This collection gathers tales spanning saints and sinners, peasants and wanderers, in which the ordinary world brushes constantly against the miraculous. Some read like folk legends retold, others like quiet studies of conscience and sacrifice, but all carry her warm, plainspoken voice and her belief that unseen bonds tie people to one another. Rooted in Swedish landscape and Christian feeling, these stories reward slow reading. Lagerlof became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.