The Brothers Lionheart
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The Brothers Lionheart (Swedish:Bröderna Lejonhjärta) is a 1973 book by the famed Swedish children's book author, Astrid Lindgren. The book is a fantasy filled tale of a young boy's "life" after his death.
The hero (and the narrator) of the story is Carl Lion(heart), known to his brother as Skorpan (Rusky), a sickly boy of 10 years old who has spent all of his life in bed due to a chronic illness. Upon hearing from his mother's friends that he will soon die, Carl asks his elder brother Jonathan, whom he greatly admires, about the truth. Jonathan comforts him by telling him about the fantasy land in which he will live after his death called Nangijala.
Soon after, Jonathan dies in an accident involving a house-fire and Carl soon follows, to find himself in the Cherry Valley in Nangijala. However, life is not as perfect as Jonathan has described. Despite the fact that time seems to be indeed the time of the stories in Nangijala, not everything in it is perfect. Through a series of adventures involving Jonathan and Carl's fight against a tyrant named Tengil and his dreadful dragon, Katla. The story describes the emotional growth of a child and his initiation into life.
[edit] Adaptations
The book has been adapted by Lindgren herself for a 1977 motion picture, directed by Olle Hellbom.
See also Bröderna Lejonhjärta (aka The Brothers Lionheart) at the Internet Movie Database
