The debut novel of Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, "The Saga of Gösta Berling" was first published in 1891. It is the story of its titular character Gösta Berling, a deposed minister. Gösta Berling becomes one of the pensioners in the manor at Ekeby when he is saved by the Mistress of Ekeby from freezing to death. Set on the shores of Lake Fryken, Lake Löven in the story, in Värmland, a historical province in Sweden, the novel employs elements of magic realism to project an exotic image of early 19th century Sweden. Described in the "Encyclopedia Americana" as a "prose epic of Swedish country life," "The Saga of Gösta Berling" remains to this day one of Lagerlöf's most popular works and an undisputed classic of Swedish romanticism.
