13 h 44 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 44 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your gentle, ordinary father believes he is an ancient king—and wants the world to recognize him?
Albert Edward Preemby has little money, little standing, and few people who take him seriously. In the London of the 1920s, this mild man comes to believe he is the reincarnation of Sargon, King of Kings. His claim to greatness unsettles a world that sees him as small.
His daughter, Christina Alberta, wants her own freedom, but she also wants to protect the father she loves. In Christina Alberta's Father, H. G. Wells brings warmth and wit to their difficult bond. Around them, respectable people defend their own beliefs about class, money, and proper behavior—with rather less scrutiny.
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely king Meet a gentle Londoner whose extraordinary belief gives new force to his wish for dignity.
- A daughter seeking freedom Follow Christina Alberta as independence and love pull her in different directions.
- Respectability under scrutiny See Wells question the comfortable assumptions that decide who counts as sensible or foolish.
- Humor with a heart Enjoy light, conversational storytelling that finds small ironies without losing affection for its characters.
- The puzzle of identity Explore what happens when a person's sense of self meets other people's refusal to accept it.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy gentle English comedy, odd and lovable characters, and stories about identity, family and the daring of young women in the years after the Great War.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dreamer marries into a laundry
- A daughter who will not be tamed
- Freedom arrives with a boarding house
- A séance gives the dreamer a crown
- Wise friends cannot catch a vanished king
- The new king meets a hard world
- Doubt, prayer and a daughter's discovery
- A young man who fears confinement
- What the story says about identity and escape
Who’s who
- Mr. PreembyA gentle, dreamy retired laundryman who studies Atlantis and the pyramids, and who comes to believe he is Sargon, King of Kings.
- Christina AlbertaHis fierce, bobbed-haired daughter, a student with a large nose and a sharp tongue, who guards her father and fights for his freedom.
- Paul LamboneA fat, lazy and famous writer of wise advice who loves to talk and helps the Preembys when he can be moved to act.
- Wilfred DevizesA dark, observant mind doctor who understands Mr. Preemby's case and discovers a startling tie to Christina Alberta.
- Bobby RoothingA kind, anxious young writer who answers readers' letters as Aunt Suzannah and wants to free the man he calls Sargon.
- Sam WidgeryThe Preembys' cousin, who takes over the laundry and tries to profit from his relative's misfortune.
- Teddy WintertonA charming, careless young man who stirs Christina Alberta's pride and her anger.
- Fay CrumbA kind and absent-minded reviewer who shares the Chelsea studio and becomes a friend to Mr. Preemby.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 13 h 44 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Christina Alberta's Father in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Christina Alberta's Father
by H. G. Wells · 1925
A séance crowns a mild laundryman Sargon, King of Kings, and his daughter fears for him.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a quiet laundryman decides he is a king from the dawn of history? H. G. Wells tells the story of Mr. Preemby, a dreamy widower in 1920s London, and his sharp, restless daughter Christina Alberta.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dreamer marries into a laundry
The story begins with Albert Edward Preemby, a handsome, absent-minded young man from Sheringham. He meets two girls on the seafront, and a fierce young woman named Chris Hossett decides he will marry her. He is swept into the match almost before he can speak.
He moves into the Limpid Stream Laundry, which his strong-willed wife runs for years. She chooses his clothes, sets his pocket money and keeps him in the office. He fills his hours with books on Atlantis, the pyramids, astrology and prophecy, and he builds a library of over a thousand volumes.
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What is Christina Alberta's Father about?
It follows Mr. Preemby, a widowed laundryman who comes to believe he is the ancient king Sargon, and his daughter Christina Alberta, who tries to protect him from asylums, greedy relatives and a careless world.
Who is Sargon in the novel?
Sargon is the name of an ancient Sumerian king that a séance gives to Mr. Preemby. He comes to believe he is that king returned to restore peace and order in the whole world.
When was Christina Alberta's Father written and is it a true story?
It is a comic novel set in London after the Great War. Its story includes a sharp protest against the treatment of people confined as mentally ill.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
More by H. G. Wells
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