Orphaned at an early age, the young girl Heidi finds a home high in the Swiss Alps with her reclusive grandfather. There, each glorious day is filled with discovery, adventure and the friendship of a gentle goat boy, Peter. But when Heidi is sent away from her mountain paradise to a large, cold city, she is determined to find a way to return to the place she loves. For generations, children around the world have fallen under the spell of this small alpine girl. Heidi is the heartwarming story of an exuberant child’s goodness, courage, and love. Filled with unforgettable characters and majestic scenery, it is an enduring classic of children’s literature. Author Johanna Spyri lived her entire life in a small Swiss town near Zurich. Heidi, first published in 1881, is a largely autobiographical work that echoes Ms. Spyri’s affection for the countryside, flowers and animals that surrounded her. John McDonough brings Heidi vibrantly to life, enriching this beloved tale with the warmth and drama of his narration.

High in the Swiss Alps, Heidi, a five-year-old orphan, comes to live with her grandfather. His neighbors say he is a fierce old hermit of whom they are all afraid. Heidi, however, proves to be a remarkable, unaffected child, who quickly charms her grandfather. In fact, for Heidi, nothing could be better than living with him. She has a genuine enthusiasm for life in the mountains: for the goats, which she helps Peter to tend, the spring flowers on the Alm, and the simple hay bed that she occupies in the loft.

However, her Aunt Dete doesn’t understand, and it is a sad day when she takes Heidi to live in a strange city with a strange family that wants a companion for their young invalid daughter named Klara. Heidi does her best to be a friend to Klara, but her longing for home becomes too much to bear.

This beloved classic has delighted children and their parents for decades and will continue to do so with its winning heroine, memorable characters, and engaging portrait of a quaint Alpine village.

When Heidi, a lively orphan girl, goes to live with her grandfather in a little hut high in the Alps, she soon learns to live in perfect harmony with her surroundings, leading a carefree life with her constant companion, Peter, a young goatherd.

But her happiness is short-lived when she is sent to stay with a rich city family as a companion for the sick Clara. Although she becomes fond of the older girl, Heidi is terribly homesick. Will she ever be able to return to the Alps and the happiness she once knew with her friends?

Johanna Spyri’s touching story of the adventures of a young Swiss girl is one of the most popular children’s stories ever written. Heidi’s pleasure in the beauty of the Swiss mountains and her rich relationships with her friends and family are perfectly evoked in this dramatization by Bobbie Frohman and supporting cast.

Unassuming in plot and style, Heidi may none the less lay claim to rank as a world classic. In the first place, both background and characters ring true. The air of the Alps is wafted to us in every page; the house among the pines, the meadows, and the eagle poised above the naked rocks form a picture that no one could willingly forget. And the people, from the kindly towns-folk to the quaint and touching peasant types, are as real as any representation of human nature need be. Every goat even, has its personality. As for the little heroine, she is a blessing not only to everyone in the story, but to everyone who hears it. The narrative merits of the book are too apparent to all for comment. An excellent movie was made from this story and it starred youthful Shirley Temple (only eight-years-old at the time) as Heidi and her grandfather was portrayed by folk-singer/actor, Burl Ives.

Heidi is the story of a five-year-old orphan who goes to live with her grandfather in the mountains. Everyone in the village is afraid of him, but Heidi soon wins his heart. She loves her life and her friendship with the young goatherd, Peter. But one terrible day her aunt takes her to the city to help take care of a sickly child, Clara. Heidi can’t bear to be away from her grandfather and finally, she brings Clara back to her Alpine home, where a miracle of healing occurs.

Originally published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, this classic story has been narrated by Jenny Agutter, complete with bespoke music and sound design.

Actress Jenny Agutter is known for her roles in Call the Midwife, Avengers Assemble, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Logan’s Run and The Alan Clark Diaries. She has narrated numerous audiobooks, including I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and E Nesbit’s The Railway Children, which she also starred in.

© 1880; 2000 Joanna Spyri; Sally Grindley © 2000 DK Audio

Orphaned at an early age and taken in by her young aunt Dete, Heidi is soon in the way. Dete has a new and better job where Heidi is not welcome, so the child must live with her curmudgeon of a grandfather high on the Alm Mountain in the Swiss Alps. Everyone calls him the Alm-Uncle because he never comes down to the village, even in the coldest winter, and he’s developed a reputation as an evil, godless old hermit. But Heidi soon finds that things are not always what others say they are, makes friends with the Alm-Uncle, and happily runs wild in the glorious mountains with the goat boy, Peter, and his goats.
Suddenly, Dete appears again, and Heidi finds herself confined in a stone house in a stone city where she is expected to be companion to the invalid Clara. Dete sees this as a great opportunity for Heidi, one that will provide her with an education and polish. But, bitterly unhappy away from her grandfather and the outdoor life she has grown to love, Heidi at last makes her way back to the Alm. How Klara finally comes to the mountains as well, and the surprising events that follow, form the heartwarming ending to a story that has been loved for generations by children all over the world.

Heidi is a classic work of children’s fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning and Heidi: How She Used What She Learned. It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her paternal grandfather’s care in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book “for children and those who love children”.
Edited by Macc Kay
Production executive Avalon Giuliano
ICON Intern Eden Giuliano
Music By AudioNautix With Their Kind Permission
©2020 Eden Garret Giuliano (P) Eden Garret Giuliano
Geoffrey Giuliano is the author of over thirty internationally bestselling biographies, including the London Sunday Times bestseller Blackbird: The Life and Times of Paul McCartney and Dark Horse: The Private Life of George Harrison. He can be heard on the Westwood One Radio Network and has written and produced over seven hundred original spoken-word albums and video documentaries on various aspects of popular culture. He is also a well known movie actor.

Moni, the goat boy, was a very cheerful young man who loved his job and his flock with all his heart. When young Paula first encounter’s Moni’s jubilant nature and happy song, she is captivated by his joy and becomes his friend. Moni spends each day up in the mountains with the goats and has a particularly special attachment to a kid named Maggerli. One day, Moni runs into a boy from another village who has discovered a beautiful diamond cross and the boy tells Moni that if he keeps his secret about the gross, he will buy Maggerli for Moni to save her from death. Moni struggles with keeping the deceitful secret, and finally confesses the truth to Paula (the owner of the cross) what has happened. Paula, further touched by Moni’s honesty and love for Maggerli, decides to do something that will bring about a happy ending for everyone.
Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) was a Swiss children’s author, best known for her novel ‘Heidi.” Her stories are heavily influenced by her own life and the area of Switzerland in which she grew up.

Toni loses his father at a young age, and his mother, Elsbeth, is tasked with trying to provide for her son in the country all by herself. Toni discovers a passion for wood-carving, but circumstances do not allow him to pursue this line of work, and he instead finds himself as a herdsman up in the mountains. This life doesn’t agree well with little Toni, and he falls ill and winds up in a sanitarium. He does not get better until he is reunited with his mother and all at once life for Toni and Elsbeth takes a positive turn thanks to the help of another patient in the sanitarium.
Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) was a Swiss children’s author, best known for her novel ‘Heidi.” Her stories are heavily influenced by her own life and the area of Switzerland in which she grew up.