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Where do love and kindness lead when a family must live with loss?
In Where Gritli's Children Went, Johanna Spyri enters the world of Gritli and her children, where family love reaches beyond hardship. This gentle Swiss story gives space to childhood, sorrow and the warmth of home. Its stakes are quiet but deeply felt: separation, grief and the bonds that remain.
Spyri, the author of Heidi, takes children's feelings seriously. Her plain, tender style draws attention to small daily things and the courage of young people. Faith belongs to this everyday world: prayer and trust in God offer comfort within the story, while kindness gives its family life a steady warmth.
What you’ll discover
- Childhood taken seriously Meet a view of childhood that respects deep feelings, close attention and quiet courage.
- Love beyond hardship Explore the family bonds that give this gentle story its warmth in the face of sorrow.
- Comfort in everyday faith Discover how prayer and belief form part of daily life in Spyri's world.
- Small things that matter Let Spyri's close attention to ordinary details draw you into the warmth of home.
- Room for tender feelings Find a calm story that acknowledges grief without turning away from kindness and love.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy gentle stories of mountain villages and large families, tender friendships between children, and quiet faith told in warm, simple scenes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Love can leave things unsaid
- Someone listens amid the noise
- The factory waits for children
- Beauty competes with daily need
- Shared tiredness opens a friendship
- Secret help brings new worries
- Kindness sees more than usefulness
- Hope makes room for sorrow
- Noticing another person is a beginning
Who’s who
- NoraA pale, gentle English girl who tires easily and finds comfort in an old song about a land without tears.
- Mrs. StanhopeNora's widowed mother, who guards her sick child with fear and cannot bear to hear her speak of leaving.
- ClarissaThe faithful old housekeeper who once nursed Mrs. Stanhope and now teaches Nora to trust in a happy home beyond.
- ElsliA thin, shy girl who carries her little brothers all day and longs for rest and for her brother Fani.
- FaniElsli's brother, a cheerful, quick boy who loves to draw and dreads the factory that waits for him.
- EmmiThe doctor's lively daughter, who hatches daring plans to help Fani become a painter.
- The auntThe doctor's household helper and sister of his wife, who calms quarrels and steers the children out of trouble.
- Mr. BickelThe rich factory owner who values every person by their usefulness and wants Fani for his workforce.
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Where Gritli's Children Went in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Where Gritli's Children Went
A pale girl yearns for heaven as Fani, a poor boy fond of drawing, slips away to pursue painting.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Song makes life beautiful and fills our hearts with cheer”
In short
What would you do if the most beautiful thing in the world were a tree you could draw all day, and a factory waited for you at Easter? That is the question that drives a barefoot Swiss boy named Fani.
Where Gritli's Children Went at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 20 min1 h 50 min fast, 2 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 32,900 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 sick girl and her mother on the Rhine
The story opens on a June morning at a fine stone house on the Rhine. Roses climb the walls, and lime trees dip their branches into the river. At an upstairs window sits Nora, a pale girl in her eleventh year, who begs to be taken down to the stone bench beneath the trees.
Her mother, Mrs. Stanhope, watches her every move with fear. Nearly two years earlier her son Philo died, and he lies buried beneath white roses by the lime trees. Now Nora grows weaker each week. On the bench she watches the green branches float on the waves and says she would love to drift along like that. But she is always tired.
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Details
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Cite this edition
Spyri, Johanna. Where Gritli's Children Went. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/where-gritlis-children-went.
Spyri, J. (2026). Where Gritli's children went. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/where-gritlis-children-went
Spyri, Johanna. Where Gritli's Children Went. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/where-gritlis-children-went.
@book{spyri2026where,
author = {Spyri, Johanna},
title = {Where Gritli's Children Went},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/where-gritlis-children-went}
}
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What is Where Gritli's Children Went about?
It follows a sick English girl, Nora, who spends a summer in a Swiss village, and the poor children Fani and Elsli, whose lives become tied to hers. It is a story of friendship, family, grief and faith.
Who are Fani and Elsli?
They are the two children of Gritli, a young woman who died early, and the laborer Heiri. Fani is a quick boy who loves to draw. Elsli is a shy, gentle girl who cares for her little brothers.
Is this the same author as Heidi?
Yes. Johanna Spyri wrote both. This story also has a Swiss setting, a close attention to children, and a clear Christian outlook, though the plot, the characters and the places differ from Heidi.
The author
Johanna Spyri
1827–1901 · Swiss children's writer
Johanna Spyri was a Swiss writer born in Hirzel, Switzerland, in 1827. She moved to Zurich in 1852 and lived there until her death in 1901. She wrote books for children and adults. Her first published story appeared in 1871. Heidi was published in two parts in 1880 and 1881.
“Song makes life beautiful and fills our hearts with cheer”
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