The Originals : Heidi

Johanna Spyri

Mar 2022 · Om Books International

About this ebook

It sounds plausible enough tonight, but wait until tomorrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning. Born out of H.G. Wells’ literary vision of the future, The Time Machine (1895) is an extraordinary work of early science fiction. A Victorian scientist builds a time machine and lands in the year 802,701 AD. Initially, he is transported to the pastoral idyll of an unknown land which is delightfully peaceful. Soon, however, the paradisiacal façade shatters and he discovers the reality of two distinct species: Eloi are useless, childlike adults surviving on a fruit based diet and Morlocks who are barbarians thriving underground. The Time Traveller saves one of the Eloi from drowning and navigates through tunnels to retrieve his time machine that has gone missing. Before returning to his era, The Time Traveller also visits a land where a bloated red sun stares motionless in the sky and the only sign of life is a black blob with tentacles. Once again, the scientist prepares to leave on another time travel, but this time will he return?

About the author

Born on 12 June 1827, Johanna Heusser was raised in Hirzel, a small village in Zurich, Switzerland. Her mother Meta Heusser-Schweizer wrote religious poetry and hymns and agreed to have her works published on the condition that her identity wouldn’t be disclosed. In 1875, a selection of Alpine Lyrics by her was translated into English.

At 16, Johanna was sent to a residential school in Yverdon, western Switzerland. Later, she studied Modern Languages and Piano in Zurich.

In 1852, Johanna married a lawyer and journalist named Johann Bernhard Spyri. Her husband being a workaholic, their marriage suffered and gradually, Johanna sunk into depression. In 1884, tragedy struck when she lost her son, Bernhard—who was only 28—and her husband.

Encouraged by a family friend, Johanna began to write to overcome depression and published her first story ‘Ein Blatt auf Vronys Grab’ (A Leaf From Vrony’s Grave) in 1871. The success of her very first story fuelled her passion for writing, that she pursued diligently. Between 1871 and 1901, Johanna published 27 books and several volumes of stories for children and adults.

As a writer, she was concerned about the upbringing of children in 19th-century Europe. Instead of treating them as ‘imperfect’ adults, she wanted to present a child’s world as very different from an adult’s.

Heidi (1881), a novel that she wrote in four weeks, reflects the writer’s psychological insight into a child’s mind. A world classic, which has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide, Heidi has been translated from German into 50 languages. Johanna Spyri died in Zurich on 7 July 1901.