I love this writer! She writes wonderful historicAl fiction! The thing I like most about this book is that even though it's set in medieval Norway with if different cultural and religious mores, the story is ageless. The conflict between the two main characters, their families, the church and community could be retold anywhere and at any time. This makes the story timeless. At the same time, the historical setting makes the story unique.

As someone who was disarmed by finding a more Christian heart to Norway than I had expected after living there, Undset captures something expertly well.

Not only is she well-deserving of her Nobel Prize, as the book is gripping and immersive, but the saga of Olav and Ingunn meanders through a Catholicised culture which is trying to shirk the more diabolical thrusts of its predecessor. Vengeance and pride are justified in the thinking of many characters, and those who refuse to look to their own sins and be contrite yield the fruits of their misery.

One cannot write off the Scandinavias, and particularly Norway, as never really Christianised, secular, socialistic entities. To do so would be a crime to the quiet and overlooked baptised heart of the land, whose Faith may not be as refined, intellectual, or ingrained as a place such as Italy but is no less authentic and humble when it is found.

A final comment is that while I entirely loved (and even related strongly to characters) while reading this, Undset managed something almost indescribable. It is why she is worthy of her repute. The language used to describe the tale (at least in the edition I have- translated by Arthur G. Chater) simulatenously brings the medieval era to us and we to the medieval era.

The language is not modern enough to ever feel one bit anachronistic (can you imagine a housecarl saying "sure, buddy"?); her lexical choices are apt and the whole tale has an authentic feel, as if you are being told it over the fire by an eyewitness in the 13th century. Yet it is always highly readable and engrossing.

I am glad to have stumbled across this. Undset was a Third Order Dominican- an order with a justified reputation for preaching high intellectualism to peoples in digestible, explicable ways. She fit the order well. I look forward to reading her future work.

There's so much to chew on in this book. Learning about medieval life and customs, the mechanics of sin, the need for mercy... I could go on. Read this book... it's fascinating.

Very dramatic at the end!

A past dream, "recalling rocks arching up in the middle of the courtyard at Hestviken...Behind the livestock sheds...a steep wall of shiny dark stone with water trickling down its face. And tall, green thickets...a low-tide shore... across seaweed...picking up snail shells...", memories of Olav's childhood on his family estate in medieval Norway, a life abruptly uprooted.

Olav's father, Audun, had worked alongside Steinfinn, Ingunn's father both as royal retainers. Encountering each other years later at a ting, a Nordic meeting, Steinfinn reconnected with Audun bringing him and his seven year old son Olav to his estate in Frettastein. The fathers, seemingly drunk, made a pact...seven year old Olav and six year old Ingunn...a small bridal couple...a gold ring placed on Ingunn's tiny finger...the children drank to their betrothal from a drinking horn...a paternal handshake sealed the deal. Very ill and weak, Audun died but not before Steinfinn promised to raise Olav as his foster son until Olav "...was a man and could lead his bride home."

"[Olav] could no more think of parting ways with [Ingunn]...than he could part ways with himself...he would be with Ingunn forever. That was the only certainty in his life. He and Ingunn were inextricably bound to one another...like solid ground beneath his feet...truly his possession and his destiny...". Olav was 16 years old, Ingunn, 15. "...everyone and everything seemed to be warning of impending change and weighty events...so Olav found it only sensible...to give serious thought to his marriage". Steinfinn's circumstances had changed...[Ingunn and Olav] must hurry up and marry so Ingunn could claim her dowry.

Medieval legal and church codes clashed. Olav and Ingunn had acted upon their emotions, after all, they were betrothed. Ingunn's kinsmen felt differently. Upon Steinfinn's death, the young couple travel to Hamar hoping that the church would uphold their union. Are there those who witnessed the betrothal so many years ago? By assuming they were betrothed, "...in a single, heated moment [Olav] seemed to understand fully what it [meant] to possess her but also to lose her". Would their vows be upheld by the church?

"Olav Audunsson: I. Vows" by Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset is the first book in a new English translation of the tetralogy previously translated as "The Master of Hestviken" and published in 1925. Perhaps melodramatic in nature, it describes heathen practices of murder, revenge, shame and banishment. "Two young people bound together by an early promise-ruthlessly manipulated by conniving family members and subjected to confusing laws, both secular and religious" [as stated in the the translator notes by Tiina Nunnally]. The plight of Olav Audunsson, from his POV is described in Part I of the tome, while Part II details Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter's longings and frustrations. Beautifully written, author Unset immerses the reader completely in the controversies between kinship bonds versus the laws of the church and state in 13th century Norway. This reader would love to read the remaining three volumes of the tetralogy titled "Providence" "Crossroads" and "Winter". It is hoped that the University of Minnesota Press will release these volumes in English translation. I enthusiastically recommend this tome.

Thank you University of Minnesota Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many years ago I picked up the first volume of the "Kristin Lavransdatter" series that was on display at the local library. I became so engrossed in the story and the characters that I plowed through the entire series in short order. I recently came across a review of this new translation of "Olav Andunsson," which mentioned that this series was considered Undset's masterpiece. I wasn't disappointed. She creates a wholly believable, highly detailed and nuanced representation of medieval Norway and has great sensitivity to the impact of the natural surroundings on her characters. But more than anything, she captures like few other authors do the minute machinations and fluctuations of the inner workings of her characters, how their thoughts, perceptions and feelings swirl and shift and collide with one another, tugging them this way and that, creating chains of causation that shape their fates. The basic plot is not particularly original, but Undset's writing raises it above melodrama to a tragic tale of two young people whose fate was chosen for them and then comes to rule over them, despite themselves, much as happens to Greek tragic heroes. Even the minor characters are complex and well fleshed out. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, hopefully soon. I found the translation very readable and well suited to the material.

I read this quadrilogy as a teen, when I was too young to really understand it. Fortuitously, this means I remember almost nothing about the story of Olav Audunsson, so I get to approach his saga with fresh eyes. The first installment is absolutely riveting. The drama of the story is elevated by the incredible historical setting that Undset painstakingly researched, and then created for us so thoroughly and skillfully that it feels more real and natural than a lot of books set in modern times. Especially interesting is the tension between the older, Norse codes of honor, and the different standards proposed by Catholicism. I have no memory of what happens by the end of the saga, and I am eagerly looking forward to reading the final two books once Nunally's new translation is released, and learning what happens to Olav later in his life.

Okay Book… Great Ending

This book is the second book by Undset that I’ve read. My first was “Kristin Lavransdatter,” which i far prefer. The majority of this book took a lot of effort to get through. It finally got so much better toward the end. I wish Rhein entire book was better translated into English. That would have made a big difference.

As Norway’s pagan and Christian eras collide and overlap I was left with questions about relationships between men and women and childbearing. Betrothed in childhood, troths were inviolable but sometimes negotiated out of or abandoned, the consummation of a betrothal was read as matrimony for life, fines paid for offending the honor of a family…and yet there were lemans (lovers) and illegitimate children that were sometimes adopted, sometimes fostered, sometimes abandoned. What was the difference between one consummated relationship and another?

I searched to learn a bit more…

https://www.google.com/amp/s/demotren...

I'm liking this series as much as Kristin Lavransdatter. Like Kristin, it is the life story of a person in medieval Norway, a man this time, named Olav Audunsson. The book is separated into two parts, the first primarily concerning Olav and his experiences; the second primarily about his fiancee Ingunn. Olav's parents having died early in his childhood, he becomes the foster son of Ingunn's parents and the children grow up with the knowledge that they are betrothed to each other. Their betrothal was not carried out with all the formalities as it ought to have been, leading to problems for the couple and their families. It's set in an earlier time than Kristin, so Norway has become a Christian country, but in the people have still not fully transitioned from their old ways.

Someone at my parish book club said, “The Master of Hestviken series is to Kristin Lavransdatter what the Hardy Boys are to Nancy Drew.” In other words, basically the same thing with a different cast of characters. Having finished The Axe (first volume of The Master of Hestviken), I can see the point. The themes are all there (honor, eros, faith, sin, repentance), and the setting is the same (Norway in the Middle Ages). It feels like Sigrid Undset is trying to write the earlier books all over again. And really, if she can recapture that magic, why shouldn’t she? The Axe is good – especially the second half of it. But I’m not sure it’s got quite the same shine.

3.5 stars

An absolutely phenomenal book that breathes life and colour into our view of the medieval world. Filled with all the suspense, action and intrigue of the best modern writing and tempered with morality and philosophical quagmires that only serve to add immense depth to a surprisingly fluid and lyrical story.
I was compelled to adapt the novel to a feature length screenplay. Have read the book dozens of times doing so. I was never bored.