From a Swedish Homestead

Gunnar Hede is a gifted but idle university student whose easy confidence begins to unravel when his friend Gustaf Alin reveals that the family estate of Munkhyttan is in serious financial decline and that Hede's mother has sacrificed herself to keep him at school. Forced to confront duty, he resolves to work, but Alin also takes away his beloved violin, fearing both its lure and his affection for Hede's fiancée. Crushed by the loss, Hede is drawn back to music through a blind street player and discovers, in a burst of inspiration, how powerfully a violin can move hearts. That revelation leads him toward the world of traveling performers, the proud Blomgren family, and a poor little girl whose beauty seems to promise greatness yet whose future is uncertain. The novel then deepens into a tale of sacrifice and legend: Hede defends the child's right to safety and love, later saves Munkhyttan by becoming a pedlar, and endures a brutal journey through the Fifty-Mile Forest that nearly breaks him. Interwoven with this human drama are sweeping historical and mythic scenes, from the rise of Silvius Antonius at ancient Kungahälla to the pagan splendor of Queen Sigrid Storräde's voyage to meet King Olaf Trygveson, where Christian order and old supernatural powers collide. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.