Heidi is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children". Heidi is a girl who has been raised by her aunt Detie in Maienfeld, Switzerland after the early deaths of her parents, Tobias and Adelheid Detie brings 6-year-old Heidi to her paternal grandfather's house, up the mountain from Dörfli. He has been at odds with the villagers and embittered against God for years and lives in seclusion on the alm. This has earned him the nickname Alm-Uncle. He briefly resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl's evident intelligence and cheerful yet unaffected demeanor soon earn his genuine, if reserved, affection. Heidi enthusiastically befriends her new neighbors, young Peter the goatherd, his mother, Bridget, and his blind maternal grandmother, who is "Grannie" to everyone. With each season that passes, the mountain top inhabitants grow more attached to Heidi. Heidi is one of the best-selling books ever written and is among the best-known works of Swiss literature.