The Emperor of Portugallia

For poverty-stricken farm laborer Jan, the birth of his daughter Klara gives life a new meaning; his devotion to her develops into an obsession that excludes all else. We are taken from the miracle of a newborn child and a father's love of his baby girl into a fantasy world emerging as a result of extreme external pressures, in which Jan creates for himself the role of Emperor of Portugallia. Yet this seemingly mad world generates surprising insights and support. Described as `perhaps the most private of Selma Lagerlf's books', the novel takes us deep into a father-daughter relationship that carries the seeds of tragedy within it almost from the start.