Heidi is the heartwarming tale of a cheerful five-year-old orphan sent to live with her hermit-like grandfather high in the Swiss Alps.

Everyone in the village is afraid of him, but his long beard and bushy grey eyebrows fascinate Heidi.

She loves her life in the mountains, playing in the sunshine and growing up amongst the goats and birds. There, she transforms the lives of Peter, a goatherd; Peter's blind grandmother; Clara, a well-to-do but sickly girl; and even the surly grandfather she calls Alm-Uncle.

But one terrible day, Heidi is collected by her aunt and made to live with a new family in town.

Heidi can't bear to be away from her beloved grandfather. Can she ever find a way back up the mountain, where she belongs?

JOHANNA SPYRI (1827-1902) Swiss-born author of children's stories wrote almost fifty books; but it was her masterwork, Heidi which brought her international fame.