author
Margaret Arndt
Known mainly for a single early-20th-century fairy-tale collection, this writer brought German folk imagination to English-speaking children with a gentle, storybook charm. Much about her life remains uncertain, which gives her work an added air of mystery.
1 Audiobook
Fairy Tales from the German Forests
by Margaret Arndt
About the author
Margaret Arndt is best known for Fairy Tales from the German Forests, an early 20th-century collection of stories with a strong sense of wonder and old-world folklore. Project Gutenberg currently lists that book as the only work under this name in its catalog.
Several book and fairy-tale reference pages identify Margaret Arndt as a pen name used by Margaret Heaton. Those same sources say she was of English descent, married to a German man named Paul Arndt, and was connected by family to G. K. Chesterton's circle.
Because reliable biographical information is scarce, it is hard to draw a full picture of her life with confidence. What does stand out is the lasting appeal of her fairy tales, which have continued to find new readers long after their original publication.