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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it mean to be a child who seems to stand between two worlds?
In The Anje Child, Waldemar Bonsels places love, loss and a child between two worlds at the heart of a lyrical German novel. The story invites you to slow down, look closely and give its atmosphere room to work, rather than hurry toward the next event.
Bonsels, best known for The Adventures of Maya the Bee, writes with a feeling for nature and the inner life. Here, mood matters more than a tightly woven plot. The appeal lies in reflective storytelling, where descriptions invite the same attention as events and love sits beside grief.
What you’ll discover
- Between two worlds Meet a child whose place between two worlds gives the novel its haunting central idea.
- Love beside loss Spend time with a story that holds love and grief at its heart.
- Nature and feeling Explore fiction shaped by a writer drawn to nature, emotion and the inner life.
- A slower reading rhythm Take your time with descriptions that invite close attention rather than a quick glance.
- Atmosphere over action Let the novel's lyrical mood draw you in without the rush of fast action.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy lyrical nature writing, quiet tales of wild landscapes, and stories about solitude, fathers and daughters, and the old beliefs that cling to forests and marshes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Love enters a troubled house
- A letter leads into the wilderness
- Love speaks through watchful care
- The moor becomes Anje's teacher
- Fridlin presses against Anje's freedom
- Solitude does not settle goodness
- Guilt meets a child's trust
- The landscape carries unspoken feelings
- Two ways of living remain
Who’s who
- AnjeA wild, gentle girl who lives on the moor, sings to the wind and wants nothing except her father's love.
- Vinzenz GeromA once-rich farmer broken by a killing and a lost love, who withdraws into the wilderness to raise his daughter in solitude.
- Angelika LettA Danish painter whose smile softens Gerom's dark heart, and whose hidden past brings both of them great sorrow.
- OnneAn ancient moor woman with a cart and a sharp tongue, who understands Anje, protects her and gives her the little red book.
- HirteA big, ugly, shaggy dog with kind golden eyes, who guards Anje and wants only a sign of her favor.
- FridlinA young assistant forester who meets Anje at the stream and cannot stop longing for her, whatever anyone says.
- The pastor of GorchingA young, well-meaning clergyman who tries to bring the moor family into the parish and is frightened by the wilderness.
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The Anje Child
A girl raised by a hermit on a wild moor sings to the wind and keeps one red book she cannot read.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“In the evening sun, swallows flew around the white castle.”
In short
What would it be like to grow up with no school, no village and no playmates, only an old woman and a shaggy yellow dog? Anje does exactly that.
The Anje Child at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 5 min1 h 40 min fast, 2 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 29,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Danish painter walks into a lonely farm
The story opens in Gorching, a village on the edge of a vast moor called the Wilderness. Jakob Vinzenz Gerom, a young farmer with old family money, is respected and avoided at the same time. He broods, he cannot bear company, and sudden rages frighten his neighbours.
Then a Danish painter named Angelika Lett arrives by carriage. She stops at the gate of Gerom's walled farm and sees an old house with a deep, quiet sadness in its walls. Gerom takes her hand as if he has waited a long time for her. She moves into his house, and his dark nature softens under her sorrowful, childlike smile. He announces that he will marry her.
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Details
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Cite this edition
Bonsels, Waldemar. The Anje Child. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-anje-child.
Bonsels, W. (2026). The Anje child. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-anje-child
Bonsels, Waldemar. The Anje Child. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-anje-child.
@book{bonsels2026anje,
author = {Bonsels, Waldemar},
title = {The Anje Child},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-anje-child}
}
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What is The Anje Child about?
It follows Anje, a girl raised by her hermit father on a remote moor near Gorching. With an old woman and a loyal dog as companions, she grows up in nature, until a young forester's longing disturbs her world.
Who is Anje and who is her father?
Anje is the daughter of Vinzenz Gerom, a former wealthy farmer, and the Danish painter Angelika Lett. After her mother dies, her father takes her to a log cabin deep in the wilderness.
Who is Onne in The Anje Child?
Onne is an ancient woman who lives in a peat hut at the edge of the moor. She sells berries in Gorching, understands Anje best of anyone and gives her a little book.
The author
Waldemar Bonsels
1881–1952 · German novelist
Waldemar Bonsels was a German writer born in Ahrensburg in 1881. He wrote novels, stories, and travel books. His book Maya the Bee appeared in 1912. He lived in Munich and later in Ambach, beside Lake Starnberg in Bavaria. He died in Ambach in 1952.
“In the evening sun, swallows flew around the white castle.”
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