The Tsar's Dwarf

Sorine, a female Danish dwarf tormented by her past, is given by the king of Denmark to Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who is smitten with the unusual combination of her freakishness and superior intellect. He takes her to St. Petersburg against her will to make her a jester in his court. Her brilliance and sarcastic wit help her forge an existence amidst the squalor and lice-ridden world of dwarves in early 18th-century Russia. After finally succumbing to the repeated sexual advances of the Tsar's favorite dwarf Lukas, she develops sincere feelings for him and her life seems bearable - at least until she is banished to live as an exhibit in the Tsar's Curiosity Cabinet, a twisted museum of human deformity.

Peter H. Fogtdal was born in 1956 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has a degree in playwriting from Cal State Fullerton. He is the author of twelve novels in Danish. Three have been translated into French, and two into Portuguese. In 2005 he won The Francophonian Literature Prize (Le Prix Litteraire de la Francophonie) for Le Front Chantilly. The Tsar’s Dwarf is his first novel in English. Peter H. Fogtdal shares his time between Portland, Oregon, and Copenhagen, Denmark.