3 h 20 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 20 minPaperback · 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
For readers who love lyrical nature writing, wild and lonely landscapes, and old tales of love and fate told with deep feeling for forest, water, weather and the inner life of a child.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Danish painter comes to Gorching
- A dead mother's letter summons a child
- A wild child grows up in the moor
- A young hunter meets a stone
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- AnjeA fair-haired girl raised in the moor, who sings wordless songs, knows every creature and loves her father with total trust.
- Vinzenz GeromAnje's father, a former prosperous farmer turned hermit, who hides a deep love beneath silence and fierce pride.
- Angelika LettA Danish painter who comes to Gorching, wins Gerom's heart and carries a hidden past she never explains.
- OnneA bent, sharp-tongued old woman in a peat hut, wise and tender, who looks after Anje and supplies the hermits.
- HirteA shaggy yellow dog with a monkey's face and gentle eyes, who devotes his whole life to guarding Anje.
- FridlinA young assistant at the forester's lodge, who falls helplessly in love with Anje after she strikes him with a stone.
- The pastorThe young pastor of Gorching, who tries to understand the moor and its people and loses his way in the wilderness.
- The foresterA kindly old hunter who tolerates Gerom's poaching and warns Fridlin to leave the Anje child alone.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 3 h 20 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Anje Child
A girl raised by a hermit in a vast moor sings to the wind and throws stones at strangers.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Anje Child is a short German novel by Waldemar Bonsels, the author who also gave the world the tale of Maya the Bee. It tells of a girl raised alone by her father in a vast northern moor called the Wilderness, close to the village of Gorching.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Danish painter comes to Gorching
The novel opens with the story of Anje's father, Jakob Vinzenz Gerom. He is a young, wealthy and respected farmer in the village of Gorching, near the Gurdelbach, a stream that flows out of the great moor to the north. A brooding nature and sudden fits of rage keep his neighbors at a distance, and rumors about his soul grow with every year. Only his farmhands serve him with devotion, because he is fair.
When Gerom is thirty-five, a Danish painter named Angelika Lett steps down from a city carriage under the linden tree by the village inn. She brings no trunks, only small bundles and boxes of every odd shape. Two boys, Kaspar and Friedel Lindner, carry her easel and paint box out onto the moors, and the villagers slowly lose their wariness. She is small, calm and independent, with a childlike cheer that she shows only to those she trusts.
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What is The Anje Child about?
It tells of a girl called Anje, raised in a vast moor by her hermit father, Vinzenz Gerom. Surrounded by forest, a loyal dog and an old woman, she grows up wild and free until a young hunter comes searching for her.
Who is Anje's mother in The Anje Child?
Anje's mother is Angelika Lett, a Danish painter who arrives in the village of Gorching and wins Gerom's love. Her sad past and a letter she leaves for her husband shape the whole life of her daughter.
Who is Hirte in The Anje Child?
Hirte is the big yellow dog with a shaggy coat and a monkey-like face who lives with Anje and Gerom. He guards Anje faithfully, even though she rarely shows him affection, and his loyalty gives the book its tenderest moments.
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.
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