Gosta Berling's Saga — Selma Lagerlof

The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature, Selma Lagerlöf assured her place in Swedish letters with this 1891 novel. Inspsired by the legends, superstitions, and fairy tales of Lagerlöf's native Värmland region, Gösta Berling's Saga features a vivid cast of characters. The eponymous hero, a country pastor whose appetite for alcohol and indiscretions ends his ministerial career, falls in with a dozen vagrant Swedish cavaliers and enters into a power struggle with the richest woman in the province. Steeped in supernatural lore, the novel's colorful vignettes and striking symbolism continue to enchant readers around the world. Translated by Lillie Tudeer.