Summary
Summary of Christina Alberta's Father
Key ideas
Key idea 1
An ordinary father claims a crown
Albert Edward Preemby is a mild Englishman in London who believes he is the reincarnation of Sargon, King of Kings, an ancient ruler of Mesopotamia. His daughter, Christina Alberta, must decide how much room she can make for this strange belief in her own life.
Wells brings their family story together with questions about class, money and respectability. The comedy rests on a tender problem: how can someone hold on to an identity when the people around him refuse to accept it?
Key idea 2
A grand belief gives him dignity
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Key idea 3
Love leaves room for conflicting duties
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Key idea 4
Respectability shapes whose beliefs seem mad
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Key idea 5
Different views reveal the same man
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Key idea 6
Their bond makes judgment worth questioning
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love English social comedy, warm family stories with a gentle edge, and Wells in a lighter mood than his science fiction. It also welcomes anyone drawn to questions of identity, belief and the bond between a father and daughter.
What this book is
Christina Alberta's Father is a comic novel by H. G. Wells, published in 1925. It follows Albert Edward Preemby, a mild and ordinary Englishman in the London of the 1920s, who comes to believe that he is the reincarnation of Sargon, King of Kings, an ancient ruler of Mesopotamia. Beside him stands his daughter, Christina Alberta, a spirited and modern young woman who has to decide how much of his strange belief she can live with.
Wells was a writer who liked to test society's ideas against ordinary lives. Here he turns his humor on class, respectability, money and the fashion for spiritual explanations after the First World War. You get a funny and warm story about a father and daughter, and a sharp look at how people build an identity and what happens when others refuse to accept it. Let us begin with the man at the center of it.
In this summary
- 1A small man with a very large beliefFree
- 2A daughter who sees the world clearly
- 3Society sorts people into boxes
- 4How Wells tells it
Key point 1 of 4
A small man with a very large belief
The story begins with Albert Edward Preemby, an unremarkable man living a modest life in suburban London. He has little money, little standing and few people who take him seriously. Yet inside his head he carries a grand and secret idea about who he really is.
That idea is that he is the living return of Sargon, King of Kings. The belief gives him dignity that his daily life never has. When he thinks of himself as a king from the distant past, the small humiliations of work and rent seem to matter less.
Wells treats this belief with humor, but not with cruelty. Preemby is odd, yet he is also sincere and kind. The reader laughs at the contrast between a crowned ruler of ancient Sumer and a man hunting for a decent place to live, and yet keeps feeling for him.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
What does Preemby's belief give him?
Right. “The belief gives him dignity that his daily life never has.”Not quite. “The belief gives him dignity that his daily life never has.”
What tension does Christina Alberta face?
Right. “Christina Alberta has to weigh her own freedom against her duty to a parent who is not quite like other parents.”Not quite. “Christina Alberta has to weigh her own freedom against her duty to a parent who is not quite like other parents.”
What does the novel suggest about society's judgment of unusual beliefs?
Right. “The novel hints that a belief seems mad mainly when it is held by someone poor and powerless.”Not quite. “The novel hints that a belief seems mad mainly when it is held by someone poor and powerless.”
Questions about Christina Alberta's Father
What is Christina Alberta's Father about?
It is a comic novel about a quiet Englishman who believes he is the reincarnation of an ancient king, and about his modern daughter, who must decide how to live with his belief and the world's reaction to it.
Who wrote Christina Alberta's Father and when?
H. G. Wells wrote it, and it was published in 1925. It belongs to his later period, when he often mixed social satire with questions about education, class and belief.
Who was Sargon in the novel?
Sargon, King of Kings, was an ancient ruler of Mesopotamia. In the novel, Albert Edward Preemby comes to believe that he is Sargon returned to life, and this belief shapes how he sees himself.
Is Christina Alberta's Father a science fiction novel?
No. Although Wells is famous for science fiction, this is a domestic and social comedy set in 1920s England. Its interest lies in family, class, belief and identity rather than machines or the future.
Is Christina Alberta's Father worth reading?
It suits readers who like English social comedy and warm family stories with a satirical edge. It shows a lighter and more human side of Wells than his scientific romances.
