Heidi (Macmillan Collector's Library)

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautifully bound pocket-sized gift editions of much loved classic titles. Bound in real cloth, printed on high quality paper, and featuring ribbon markers and gilt edges, Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure. At the age of six, little orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather in the Alps.

Everyone in the village is afraid of him, but Heidi - fascinated by his long beard and bushy grey eyebrows – takes to him immediately and soon earns his love in return. She adores her life in the mountains, playing in the sunshine and growing up among the goats and birds, but one terrible day Heidi is collected by her aunt and forced to live with a new family in town. Heartbroken by the loss of her Alpine life, she must do everything she can to return to her grandfather.

Written as a book "for children and those who love children", Johanna Spyri’s affectionate account of Swiss mountain life is one of the best-selling books ever written, and a joyous portrait of the innocence of childhood. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Heidi is translated by Marian Edwardes and features charming line-drawn illustrations and an afterword by Marcus Clapham.