Frederik van Eeden 2 hr 42 min read

A boy who lives in an old house with a great garden is led by a fairy into the mysteries of nature, dream, and the sorrow of growing up.

Frederik van Eeden's 1885 Dutch classic ('Little Johannes') is a beloved, wistful allegorical fairy tale about childhood, wonder, and the loss of innocence. Lyrical, philosophical, and deeply loved in the Low Countries. Read it for a tender masterpiece of Dutch literary fantasy, luminous and melancholy.

In its time

Published in 1885, during the 1880s, lost races and dying earths.

Reading it

2 hr 42 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).