The novel was a success with critics and readers, newspaper reviewers said the novel was at the same level as Lagerlof's earlier novels Gosta Berling's Saga and the first part of Jerusalem. Jan Anderson fretted like a thief as his wife gave birth to the child, but he melted like a miracle when he first set eyes upon the little girl. The womenfolk must have read something in his eyes, or caught something in his tone that pleased them, for they burst out laughing at him. "Say, Jan, have you never cared so much for somebody that your heart has been set athrobbing because of her?" asked the midwife. Jan could not deny that it."