About the Author

Selma Lagerlöf was born on Nov. 20, 1858, in the province of Varmland, Sweden. She was born at home on the family estate called, Mårbacka. As a child, Selma spent countless hours writing poetry. A childhood illness left her unable to walk for a period of about two years so she spent hours reading books and being educated by governesses. At the age of twenty-two, she took college preparatory classes. She stayed on the family estate until she was twenty-three years old, at which time she enrolled in a teachers' college located at Stockholm. Four years later, she became a teacher for an all-girls secondary school based in Landskrona. After five years of teaching, she had finally finished her first novel and had submitted part of it to a literary contest posted in a Swedish publication. They awarded her first place. The following year in 1891, "Gösta Berling's Saga" was published. Once the book was translated into Danish, it received notoriety that propelled her success in her home country and abroad.