The Story of Gösta Berling
Selma Lagerlof’s debut swept away the sober realism of its day and announced a wholly original voice. Its hero, Gosta Berling, is a brilliant young Lutheran minister defrocked for drunkenness and rescued from despair by the formidable mistress of Ekeby manor. There he joins a company of penniless, high-spirited cavaliers who, for one wild year, seize control of the great estate on the shores of Lake Fryken. Set in the Varmland of the 1820s, the book unfolds as a chain of loosely linked adventures brimming with romance, folklore, reckless feasting, and flashes of the supernatural. Passionate and headlong, it made Lagerlof’s name and remains a landmark of Swedish literature. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.
About the Author
Selma Lagerlof (1858-1940) was a Swedish writer and teacher whose storytelling blended folklore, faith, and vivid landscape. The first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, she remains one of Sweden’s most cherished authors, known best for this book and Gosta Berling’s Saga.
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Listen to The Story of Gösta Berling Audiobook Free
Listen to The Story of Gösta Berling by Selma Lagerlöf free online. The full audiobook (15 hr 50 min, 38 chapters, read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)) streams free on this page.
The Story of Gösta Berling (1898) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 – Introduction I - The Priest | 21:15 | |
| 2 | 02 – Introduction II - The Beggar | 30:46 | |
| 3 | 03 - Part I Chapter I -The Landscape | 10:32 | |
| 4 | 04 - Part I Chapter II - Christmas Eve | 31:45 | |
| 5 | 05 - Part I Chapter III - Christmas Day | 28:07 | |
| 6 | 06 - Part I Chapter IV - Gösta Berling, Poet | 30:44 | |
| 7 | 07 - Part I Chapter V - La Cachucha | 10:25 | |
| 8 | 08 - Part I Chapter VI - The Ball at Ekeby | 45:32 | |
| 9 | 09 - Part I Chapter VII - The Old Vehicles | 31:06 | |
| 10 | 10 - Part I Chapter VIII - The Great Bear in Gurlitta Cliff | 34:37 | |
| 11 | 11 - Part I Chapter IX - The Auction at Björne | 1:06:50 | |
| 12 | 12 - Part I Chapter X - The Young Countess | 57:08 | |
| 13 | 13 - Part I Chapter XI - Ghost-Stories | 31:30 | |
| 14 | 14 - Part I Chapter XII -Ebba Dohna's Story | 45:44 | |
| 15 | 15 - Part I Chapter XIII - Mamselle Marie | 22:41 | |
| 16 | 16 - Part II Chapter I -Cousin Christopher | 13:25 | |
| 17 | 17 - Part II Chapter II -The Paths of Life | 30:16 | |
| 18 | 18 - Part II Chapter III - Penitence | 24:50 | |
| 19 | 19 - Part II Chapter IV - The Iron from Ekeby | 22:39 | |
| 20 | 20 - Part II Chapter V -Lilliecrona's Home | 13:49 | |
| 21 | 21 - Part II Chapter VI - The Witch of Dovre | 11:53 | |
| 22 | 22 - Part II Chapter VII - Midsummer | 9:40 | |
| 23 | 23 - Part II Chapter VIII - Madame Musica | 13:23 | |
| 24 | 24 - Part II Chapter IX - The Broby Clergyman | 13:13 | |
| 25 | 25 - Part II Chapter X - Patron Julius | 18:04 | |
| 26 | 26 - Part II Chapter XI - The Plaster Saints | 15:43 | |
| 27 | 27 - Part II Chapter XII - God's Wayfarer | 24:48 | |
| 28 | 28 - Part II Chapter XIII - The Churchyard | 9:15 | |
| 29 | 29 - Part II Chapter XIV - Old Songs | 23:17 | |
| 30 | 30 - Part II Chapter XV - Death, the Deliverer | 14:32 | |
| 31 | 31 - Part II Chapter XVI - The Drought | 24:18 | |
| 32 | 32 - Part II Chapter XVII - The Child's Mother | 18:48 | |
| 33 | 33 - Part II Chapter XVIII - Amor vincit Omnia | 14:06 | |
| 34 | 34 - Part II Chapter XIX - The Broom-Girl | 27:02 | |
| 35 | 35 - Part II Chapter XX - Kevenhüller | 22:27 | |
| 36 | 36 - Part II Chapter XXI - The Broby Fair | 16:48 | |
| 37 | 37 - Part II Chapter XXII - The Forest Cottage | 34:30 | |
| 38 | 38 - Part II Chapter XXIII - Margareta Celsing | 34:32 |
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