In the first book of the trilogy we followed the heroine from her childhood to adulthood, in the second we follow her in her adult life and in her married life, which has its own difficulties and challenges. Things become more difficult as her sins follow her, burdening her with guilt for the pain she caused her family and causing rifts in her relationship with her husband. Religion and devotional life, however, pull her out of the rut while her dedication to raising her children and caring for her household offer her a purpose and a path to happiness. At the same time, however, the political developments in the kingdom of Norway come to disturb her peaceful life.

If in the first book we got a taste of life in Norway in the late Middle Ages, in the second we take a deep dive as the author gives us more details about everyday life, both materially and spiritually, and about people's relationships in such a complex social environment. These details are given through a story that may not have many strong points but throughout the book has an internal tension that reveals a lot about the psyche of the protagonists who are called to overcome all difficulties in the most moral way, something not particularly easy. Another great book.

Αν στο πρώτο βιβλίο πήραμε μία γεύση από τη ζωή στη Νορβηγία του ύστερου Μεσαίωνα, στο δεύτερο κάνουμε μία βαθιά βουτιά καθώς η συγγραφέας μας δίνει περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες για την καθημερινότητα, τόσο σε υλικό όσο και σε πνευματικό επίπεδο και για τις σχέσεις των ανθρώπων σε ένα τόσο περίπλοκο κοινωνικό περιβάλλον. Αυτές οι λεπτομέρειες δίνονται μέσα από μία ιστορία που ίσως δεν έχει πολλά έντονα σημεία αλλά έχει σε όλη τη διάρκεια του βιβλίου μία εσωτερική ένταση που αποκαλύπτει πολλά για την ψυχοσύνθεσή των πρωταγωνιστών οι οποίοι καλούνται να ξεπεράσουν όλες τις δυσκολίες με τον πιο ηθικό τρόπο, κάτι όχι ιδιαίτερα εύκολο. Ένα ακόμα σπουδαίο βιβλίο.

This is a story of consequences, forgiveness, redemption, faithfulness and unfaithfulness, bitterness, love, faith, and so much more. It left me in tears of sorrow and joy. There are no bad guys and good guys, but lots of people with poor character doing good things, and people with less poor character doing bad things. It's very human.
There were moments with each main character where I cheered them on and where I groaned at the bad choices they made.

The Wife is book 2 of Kristin Lavransdatter and follows the events of book 1, The Wreath, which leaves us, the reader, in the aftermath of a precarious marriage. Book 2 dives deep down into the repercussions of the characters' sins.

I didn't expect book 2 to breathe so much life and depth into the characters. I feel as though I truly know Simon Adresson, Kristin, Lavrans, Erlend, and all the others. Each character has flaws alongside redeeming characteristics. Book 1 set me up to despise Erlend, but book 2 had me questioning my initial judgments.

The end left me shocked. I didn't expect such tragic circumstances to befall the characters. I have no idea what is in store for book 3 but am jumping right in.

Notes to self:













Men var også det at mannens fåmælhet og uglade miner nå pinte henne slik at hun lå og gråt bort halve natten.

Herr Bård satt og rugget med hodet, og tårene tiplet nedover hans kinn.


Men du har gått der på Jørundgård og hørt på han Lavrans - så gjev og mandig han er, så snakker han nu ofte som han skulle vært en munk og ikke voksen karlmann...

Erlend likte dette, og Orm ville gjerne fare med Munan. Men Kristin savnet barnet meget - hun var glad i sin stesønn. Nu satt hun alene igjen med Erlend og ham var det ikke meget selskap i.
Somme tider undret hun hva de snakket om før i tiden, Erlend og hun. Det hadde visst ikke snakket stort - hadde hatt annet å gjøre i de korte og ståljne møtestundene.

Mens hjemme på Jørundgård hadde de sittet sammen og gjort håndarbeid og småpratet. Moren og tjenestemøene vevde og mennene smidde i tre. De fortalte historier, skrønet og sang. Ulvhild visste å spille på harpe, og de kunne finne på å spille brettspill langt ut på kvelden.

Meget uryddig der inn, mange små barn lekte på gulvet. Det pleide være mye oppstyr rundt at Kristin gikk ut alene, men ettersom hun fikk til å gå langt gjennom skogen alene, får hun tankene på at Erlend er lei henne. Vel, denne konen er varm, småsnakker med henne, ler høyt og Kristin kjenner hun får apetitten tilbake. Hun leser Kristin og godt, og fanger opp at hun har hjemlengsel og at hun er veldig ensom på Huseby. Kristin har ikke følt seg så bra på lenge.
Erlend og svennene hadde vært på utkikk etter henne  og dessverre hadde de vært veldig redde for henne og tilbakeveien svært farlig. Det er synd dette måttes til for at Kristin skulle føle seg sett igjen, fordi det føltes også litt godt all dette ståheiet.

Det overrasker meg at Erlend faktisk bryr seg om hennes velvære på gården og at han har sterke ønsker om at hun skal føle seg hjemme. Kristin sine skildringer/tanker får Erlend til å virke svært usympatisk.

Btw, helt vilt: han slo henne. Hva faen. Også kaller han henne langsint etterpå.

Etter skrekkhendelsen virker det som de kom nærmere hverandre og Kristin fikk dårlig samvittighet for hendelsen.

Gunnulf, broren til Erlend, han gjør ting ordentlig. Det er bra. Jordmødrene skal på plass, og han får hentet den fine kisten med gøyale ting, endelig. MEN bra her at Erlend hører på Kristins ønske om Audfina, selv om Gunnulf mener det er usømmelig med bondekoner, men mulig han endrer mening nå.

Litt rart at graviditet blir omtalt som sykdom, om det ikke er en måte referere til det på en diskret måte i så fall.


Også litt funny; bruken av ordet kåt. Jeg fniser som en tenåringsgutt.

Det stinget vondt i farens hjerte - det var synd på Erlend, han kunne dugd til bedre ting enn å lokke kvinner. Men var ikke blitt til stort mere enn guttestreker, det andre. Det er interessant hvordan det å ha en veileder kan påvirke en såpass mye.

At Erlend hadde levd og styrt (eller ikke styrt) gården til svært dårlig forfatning. Kristin fikset opp i dette med å få ting i gang.

Det er sterkt å høre Erlend prate med sin bror, presten Gunnulf om tilgivelse/forlatelse for egne synder, hvor motparten ser seg uenig med synderen. Gunnulf uttrykker til og med anger om å ha hjulpet broren sin med frillekonen Eline, og ville nok handlet annerledes om han visste Erlend senere skulle gå etter et...barn. Ja, dette er hans ord.

"Lett å snu for den som hadde en fast hånd i en myk hanske."

"Jeg ville tenne min lykt med en fersk hestelort".

"Folk er redde nordover at russerne skal komme igjen sterkere til sommeren".

Hmm, litt mye med flere kapitler om gudefrykt.

Å bli skjelt så mye at man blir stur. Stur, det var et ord jeg ikke visste jeg letet etter.

"Hun så at Erlend ble ved å være regnet blant de unge...så hans ord og hans gjerning kunne settes ned til å være en ung, uvøren manns råd og dåd".

"Nu var det gjemt og tilgitt - fordi han så villig føyde seg og var slik som folk ville ha ham til å være."


"Hun stakk bronsedolken ned under sengklærne sammen med en jordfunnen stenøks, bevergjeø, kors av tysbast, arvesøl og ildstål, røtter av marihånd og olavsskjegg".

"At synden åt opp en manns sjel som rust - for han hadde ikke levende ro eller fred her hos sin elskede søte - bort fra henne og alt hennes lengtet han -"

"De vakre sønnene deres, men han ble så trøtt av å høre om dem sent og tidlig, av å gå og snuble over dem hvor han kom her hjemme".

Han reflekterer over hvor vanskelig man selv kan være, hvor urimelig. Både harm var han da han mente Eline ikke brydde seg nok om barna, og nå er han harm over Kristin for at han bryr seg om barna. Eline hadde en ustyrlig kjærlighet sier han, og med Kristin får han ikke nok tid med henne uten barna; han får ikke nok morotid? Nå savner han orm, sønnen han nå angrer på at han kjeftet så mye på. Dette var et interessant kapittel.

Han fant fred sist da de gjemte seg bak stengjerdet den gang hun gikk i kloster. Nå var det ikke fred å finne med henne igjen, selv om alle på gården fant fred med Kristin. Han drømmer om krig, hav, bort bort. Han får angst og dårlig samvittighet for sine tanker.
Etter nesten år nord gleder han seg endelig til å dra hjem igjen.

"Det så ut som han alltids sugde underleppen litt inn, slik som en lett gjør når en tenker hardt på ting, er like ved å skjønne, men ikke har fått full klarhet i sine tanker."

Fjo, når E ikke gidder å begi seg på leting etter ringer i sengen, og K er hans søteste, vakreste lilje. Han gleder seg til å komme hjem denne gangen også.


Gjorde henne underlig harm at Simon skulle være så glad i barn og ha slikt lag til å leke med dem, når hennes husbond så lite gadd høre på ungesnakk.

Opprevet og urolig til sinns lot hun det gå utover Erlend.
Selv har jeg sagt, og andre sagt, Erlend duger ikke til annet enn å lokke kvinnfolk.

Han tåler hennes nedtråkk når han vet hun er vred eller i dårlig humør.

Aldri gidder han høre så meget om en sak at han skjønner den til til bunns- og gadd han høre en mann til enden, så hadde han vel glemt det første før han kom til slutten.

Det er rart hvorfor Sigrid kan påpeke en type grunnhet som finnes nå som da. Hadde bare ridder Erling, en perfekt fyr på alle måter, vært et hode høyere hadde han hatt lettere med å fylle opp plassene til følget sitt.

Mye skildringer om helse, og tynnhet. Det er gøy hvor universelt det virker med foreldre som bekymrer seg mye over barna, til tross for at de er voksne.

#denlillegledenNårreiserhjemseintmenfolkervåken

Være i likevekt (være "god" i huet). Gladlynt, klok og lærd.

Ååh, Ragnhild og Lavrans, deres siste dager sammen

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هذا رابط مدونتي حيث ذكرت معلومات أكثر عن العمل بالإضافة لخارطة لشخصيات الجزء الأول
https://mariamuae.blogspot.com/2021/0...
***

تنقلنا هذه الرواية إلى زمن القرون الوسطى وتذكرنا بقصص الفرسان الشجعان الذين يمتطون خيولهم وينقذون الحسناوات ويقعون في حبهن ثم يعيشون بسعادة حتى آخر العمر، لكن هنا تستمر الحكاية بعد زفاف العاشقين السعيدين. في هذا العمل نرى عدة ثيمات تتقاطع مع بعضها؛ الحب والشبق في مواجهة الواجب والشرف، النفس الورعة بمواجهة النفس التوّاقة للحياة والخطيئة، الأمومة والأبوّة بشكليهما المعطاء بلا حدود والأناني اللامبالي. أجادت أوندست حبك الشخصيات الرئيسية للعمل وعرضتها للقارئ بكل واقعية، فالشخصيات هذه تعيش في كل زمان وكل مكان، والمواضيع التي تناولتها معاصرة بقدر ما هي قروسطية.

أحداث العمل تدور حول ”كريستين لافرانسداتر“ التي عاشت في النرويج في القرن الرابع عشر، ونرافقها منذ أن كانت طفلة مرحة في عمر السابعة حتى وفاتها المحزنة في عمر الخمسين. كل جزء من الثلاثية يغطي مرحلة عمرية مختلفة من حياتها:
إكليل العروس: كريستين الطفلة المتعلقة بوالدها، ثم المراهقة المتمردة حتى زواجها.
سيدة هوسابي: كريستين الزوجة الجديدة والأم الخجلة، ثم سيدة الضيعة الشابة الصلبة والمتمسكة الشرسة بزوجها وأطفالها.
الصليب: كريستين الأم القلقة والزوجة التي لا تغفر، ثم الورعة التائبة.

كريستين سليلة عائلة طيبة النسب والسمعة، كلا والديها ينحدران من عوائل معروفة ويمتلكون ضيعة ”يوروندغارد“ الريفية في وسط النرويج حيث ترعرعت وفيها تدور أحداث الجزئين الأول والثالث من الثلاثية. علاقة كريستين بوالدها لافرانس بيورغولفسون من أجمل العلاقات الأبوية التي قرأتها في عمل روائي، وشخصية لافرانس من أروع شخصيات الآباء في الأدب؛ لافرانس هو رجل المجتمع الورع الشريف الذي يحظى باحترام وحب فلاحيه وأنداده وكل من يعرفه عن جدارة واستحقاق. بينما كريستين ليست البطلة التي ستنال إعجاب القارئ بسهولة، بل ستثير حنقه واستغرابه من قسوتها تجاه من تحبهم كما قال لها أبوها ذات مرة: “تكونين في أقسى حالاتك حيث يكون حبك في أقصى حالاته“. كريستين فتاة مندفعة وعنيدة تتحول مع الوقت إلى امرأة صلبة وحكيمة تقيّة، عيبها الكبير أنها لا تصّفي قلبها من الشوائب التي تعلق به كلما أخطأ في حقها شخص تحبه. لقد نشأت كطفلة مدللة لا يُرفض لها طلب ومحاطة بالحب والتفهّم والاعتزاز، وقد ورثت من والديها حُسن التدبير وإدارة الأملاك باحترافية ومعرفة تاريخ الأُسر والضمير الحيّ، فكان سلوكها وحسن إدارتها وتعاملها مع خدمها في ضيعة ”هوسابي“ بعد زواجها ما كان يكفي لتغيير رأي الناس عنها وغضّهم النظر عن طريقة زواجها -ولهذا تحديداً كانت تكدح كل يوم-. عبر فصول الرواية نستطيع رؤية أثر علاقة كريستين بوالدها وأثر القرار المصيري الذي اتخذته تحدياً لإرادته واتباعاً لنزوتها، فهذه العلاقة لم تكن مجرد فصل من حياتها انطوى ما أن خرجت من تحت جناحه، بل امتدت لتؤثر على ضميرها ومشاعرها وأسلوب تقييمها لمن حولها.

قد يصنّف البعض قصة الحب في الرواية كليشيه/مبتذلة كثرة ما تكررت قصة الفتاة المندفعة التي تعشق الشاب السيء وتترك الشاب الطيّب الذي يعشقها، لكن القصة هنا أكبر من ذلك. إرلند نيكولاوسون النبيل الوسيم الذي يفتقر للحكمة ويسهل انسياقه لرغباته يستحوذ على قلب كريستين -وأكثر- منذ اللقاء الأول، بينما سايمون أندرسون الأقل وسامة لكن الأكثر شرفاً وشبهاً بأبوها لافرانس من ناحية شخصيته لم يجد مكاناً في قلب كريستين المأخوذ تماماً بإرلند، وسيبقي أثر هذا الصراع العاطفي في قلب كل واحد من الثلاثة مستمراً حتى النهاية. وكان من الرائع رؤية التغيرات التي مرت بها هذه الشخصيات الثلاث وعملية نضوجها عبر الأحداث، وكيف تتعقّد علاقاتهم وكيف تتشابك ثم تنبسط مرة أخرى.

”حين قابلته في شبابها كانت الحياة قد أضحت بالنسبة إليها نهراً سريعاً يندفع فوق الصخور والشلالات. في هذه السنوات في هوسابي انتشرت الحياة متسعة وهادئة كبحيرة، عاكسة كل ما يحيط بها.“

يتكرر خلال العمل وصف المشاهد الطبيعية وكأنك تنظر إلى صورة landscape خصبة، ودائماً ما يأتي هذا الوصف من زاوية رؤية مرتفعة، كأن تكون الشخ��ية فوق مكان مرتفع وتنظر للأرض المنبسطة أمامها. هذه المشاهد تعزّز الهوية النرويجية للعمل، حيث تصف الريف الممتد صيفاً وشتاءاً بجباله وأنهاره وبيوته، كما تجد الروائح وملمس الأرض والأصوات والألوان وكأن أوندست ترغب في حضور جميع حواسّ القارئ خلال جلوسه مع كريستين.

ميزة هذا العمل الأهم بالنسبة لي هو أن الكاتبة أسبغت عليه الأمومة بسخاء، أمومة من وجهة نظر امرأة وأم. في كثير من الفصول كنت أرى أن العمل يدور حول الأمومة بشكل رئيسي، وبالطبع ثيمة الأمومة مرتبطة ارتباطاً وثيقاً مع الأم العذراء في المذهب الكاثوليكي الذي يشكّل العمود الفقري لهذه الرواية. لقد كان هذا أول عمل أدبي أجد فيه وصف مخاض الولادة بكل هذه الدقة والواقعية، بدءاً من طول مدة المخاض الأول وتعقيده حتى اللحظة التي أمسكت فيها كريستين بالوليد. وتستمر أوندست في تضمين تفاصيل يعرفنها الأمهات بالتجربة مثل الصدر القاسي المتحجر قبل الرضاعة والطري بعد شبع الرضيع، الطفل المتعلق بأمه الذي قد يلعب بعيداً عنها لكنه يبدأ بالبكاء والتشبث بها ما أن يراها عادت، نظرة الأم لأطفالها في مراحل عمرهم المختلفة وحفظها لتفاصيلهم الصغيرة جداً عن ظهر قلب، الطفل الميت الذي يرافق الأم في أفكارها وفي مشاهدتها لبقية أطفالها ويكبر في خيالها مثلما يكبر البقية تماماً. أوندست وظّفت خبرتها وتجربتها كامرأة وأم في العمل بشكل واضح وهذا رفع من قيمته الإنسانية حسب رأيي. 

الفترة الزمنية للعمل تغطي حوالي خمسة وأربعين عاماً، لذلك سنعيش فيها دورة الحياة الكاملة بمسراتها وأحزانها وتقلباتها. سنرى كريستين في كل مرحلة من مراحل حياتها وهي تشاهد والدها بعين جديدة، لقد كان أوسم الرجال وهي طفلة، ثم بدأت تلاحظ الشيب والخطوط في وجهه عندما نضجت وتمردت، ثم كانت تراه يكبر في العمر ويتغير وينحني عندما صارت أماً مشغولة بحياتها. وكذلك أطفالها وهمومهم وقلقها عليهم الذي يتغير بتغير مراحل عمرهم. نرى كريستين وهي تستعيد مواقف عايشتها وأحاديث قيلت لها وهي طفلة ولم تدرك معناها إلا عندما كبرت. لا يوجد أي حشو في هذه الرواية حتى لو بدى للقارئ كثرة وصف المشاهد والحوارات، فكل موقف ومشهد وحوار وذكرى ستُستعاد في مرحلة أخرى من العمل.

هذه العمل يتعدى قيمته الأدبية الروائية ليكون أيضاً شاهداً تاريخياً على حقبة قديمة بكل تفاصيلها المندثرة، أوندست لا تفرض على القارئ المعلومات التاريخية الدسمة وتفاصيل تلك الحقبة فرضاً، بل تجعله يكتشفها بانسيابية من خلال كريستين ومعها. لقد نقلت مشاهد تفصيلية كاملة عن أسلوب الحياة في القرن الرابع عشر في الضيع الريفية وبين عليّة القوم من ناحية الملابس وعمارة المنازل والكنائس والطعام والسلاح وثقافة المجتمع والقوانين السائدة وقوة تشبّث المسيحيين الكاثوليك بالدين في جميع نواحي حياتهم في ذلك الزمن. وعلى ذكر الكاثوليكية فإن الرواية تتمحور حول الدين وتنحاز له، فجميع الشخصيات متدينة بدرجات مختلفة، ولا نجد فيها أيّ تمرّد ضد الدين نفسه بل اقتراف خطايا ومعاصي يُتاب عنها. ومن الجدير بالذكر أن أوندست قد ترعرعت في كنف والدين ملحدين وكانت هي نفسها لا دينية لجزء كبير من حياتها، لكنها اعتنقت المذهب الكاثوليكي عام 1924 رغم أن الكنيسة الإنجيلية اللوثرية هي الكنيسة الرسمية للنرويج، ونتيجة لذلك فقد هوجمت من عامة النرويجيين ومن الطبقة المثقفة في النرويج الذين كان منهم شيوعيين واشتراكيين كُثر وقتها.

هناك الكثير مما يقوله العمل لنا، وأحدها أن اتباع القلب ومواجهة العالم لأجله لا يؤدي بالضرورة إلى درب السعادة الأبدي كما قد نعتقد، ربما يؤدي بالتابع العنيد إلى درب يظل يُذكّر نفسه خلاله كل مرة أن هذا كان قراره وحده وعليه احتمال تبعاته مهما حصل.

n  

She had refused the destiny that her father had wished for her when he wanted to put her into the arms of a man who would have safely led her onto the most secure paths, even bending down to remove every little pebble that she might tread upon. She had chosen to follow the other man, whom she knew traveled on dangerous paths.

n In n  The Wreathn, Kristen made her bed; in The Wife, she must now sleep in it (for worse and for better). Her love for Erlend is clear, but their relationship festers and poisons both of them even as it is their salvation—and as his impulsive recklessness puts their quickly growing family in a thorny position.

In something of a tonal shift, political machinations are a central part of this installment. This makes the novel more plotty, but also makes it harder to follow. The naming conventions already are so foreign and make it so difficult to remember who is married to whom, with an apparently fairly limited number of names to draw from, and Unset expects readers to remember characters or places that were only mentioned in passing several hundred pages ago (or in the prior book—I didn’t do myself any favors by waiting so long to start this one). Because of this, I had a hard time following the personal dynamics of what was happening. I know there’s a lot I missed.

However, this novel is also very much about Kristen establishing a home and birthing a small army of children, whom she dearly loves and badly spoils. Her fortitude as a wife and mother is remarkable to see: Erlend’s irresponsibility forces her to develop an iron backbone. Descriptions of the manor and their way of life seem quite primitive, and their version of Christianity comes with an unexpected dash of pagan superstition. I was constantly struck just how foreign their lifestyle is, made all the more so by the fact that Kristen and I have nothing in common in either position or disposition.

The writing style has matured somewhat since the first book, though it still isn’t especially memorable. I continue to enjoy Tina Nunnally’s translation, despite the endless stream of typos (extra spacing in character names) in the ebook. No: what is most impressive about the book is the extent to which all of these characters feel like real people, to the extent that it sometimes feels like reading a biography.

For me, this is pretty solidly a 4-star read (maybe on the low end). Not always easy or even enjoyable, but an interesting glimpse into a character and place that are completely alien to me. I don’t think I’ll wait so long before the third book.

Some favorite passages:

Inside the hall there were candles burning on the table. The remains of the evening meal were scattered about—lumps of porridge in dishes, half-eaten pieces of bread, and fishbones floating in puddles of spilt ale.

But at night Kristin would lie in bed and weep with loneliness and humiliation.

She thought that the hard lump pressing on her all the way up under her ribcage must be the child’s head; she imagined him lying with his little black head burrowed in amongst the roots of her heart. He was suffocating her, as Erlend had done before when he pressed his dark-haired head to her breast. But tonight there was no sweetness in the thought.

Sometimes she wondered what they had talked about before, she and Erlend. But then they hadn’t talked much—they had had other things to do in those brief, stolen hours together

“Kristin,” the priest said sternly. “Are you so arrogant that you think yourself capable of sinning so badly that God’s mercy is not great enough? . . .”

It seemed to her now that there was nothing that wouldn’t have tempted her back then, in her ardor and despair. She had felt her passion temper her will until it was sharp and hard like a knife, ready to cut through all bonds—those of kinship, Christianity, and honor. There was nothing inside her except the burning hunger to see him, to be near him, to open her lips to his hot mouth and her arms to the deadly sweet desire which he had taught her.

“Eve stole what belonged to God, and her husband accepted it when she gave him what rightfully was the property of their Father and Creator. They wanted to be His equal—and they noticed that the first way in which they became His equal was this: Just as they had betrayed His dominion over the great world, so too was their dominion betrayed over the small world, the soul’s house of flesh. Just as they had forsaken their Lord God, the body would now forsake its master, the soul.

But since He loves us the way the bridegroom loves the bride, He will not force her; if she won’t embrace Him willingly, then He must allow her to flee and to shun Him.

What kind of man was Erlend, whom people called irresponsible and imprudent, a man whom no one could trust? But she had trusted him.

Erling had asked him to send his greetings and give her this—it was a bronze dagger, corroded with verdigris. They had found it in a heap of stones out at Giske; it was supposed to be beneficial to place such a thing in the cradle in case it was rickets that had stricken Gaute. Kristin wrapped up the dagger again, awkwardly rose from her chair, and went over to the cradle. She put the bundle under the bedclothes with everything else that lay there: a stone axe found buried in the ground, the musk gland of a beaver, a cross made from daphne twigs, old silver, flint, roots of a Mariahand orchid, and an Olav’s Beard fern.

He had been faithful to Kristin from the very first time he saw her and to this day. No reasonable man would count those few incidents that had occurred up north.

She had loved her children from the first moment she held them in her womb; she had loved them even as they had tormented her with anguish, weighing her down and spoiling her looks. She had loved their small faces from the first moment she saw them, and loved them every single hour as they grew and changed, becoming young men. But no one had loved them as she had or rejoiced along with her. It was not in Erlend’s nature.

It seemed to her that when her weary body was finally rotting beneath a gravestone, her restless soul would still be hovering around somewhere nearby, the way a lost spirit wanders, moaning, through the ruined buildings of an abandoned farm. For in her soul sin continued to exist, like the roots of a weed intertwined in the soil. It no longer blossomed or flared up or smelled fragrant, but it was still there in the soil, pale and strong and alive.

The bells began to ring from all the churches in town, calling the people to vespers. The sounds tumbled in the spring wind, hovering over him in the turbulent air.

She admitted it to herself tonight; she had driven him to break their marriage vows with her own coldness and poisonous words.

Torture was not going to force a word out of Erlend Nikulaussøn. He could do and say anything in anger and on impulse, but he would never let himself be budged even a hand’s breadth by violence.

As soon as she arrived in Oslo, she had begun fastening her wimple in a different manner than before. Here in the south only the wives of smallholders wore the wimple in the old-fashioned way she had worn it ever since she was married: tightly framing her face like a nun’s wimple, with the ends crossed in front so her neck was completely hidden, and the folds draped along the sides and over her hair, which was knotted at the nape of her neck. In Trøndelag it was considered a sign of piety to wear the wimple in this manner, which Archbishop Eiliv had always praised as the most seemly and chaste style for married women. But in order to fit in, Kristin had adopted the fashion of the south, with the linen cloth placed smoothly on her head and hanging straight back, so that her hair in front was visible, and her neck and shoulders were free. And another part of the style was to have the braids simply pinned up so they couldn’t be seen under the edge of the wimple, with the cloth fitted softly to the shape of her head. Simon had seen this before and thought it suited her—but he had never noticed how young it made her look. And her eyes were shining like stars.

The second instalment of noble laureate Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, The Wife, continues the story of Kristin Lavransdatter now that she is married to Erlend Nikulaussøn. She must manage the estate at Husaby and raise a ever-growing family while still coming to term with the consequences of her actions in the first book. Yet also, her husband becomes involved in a plot to install a rival king on the throne and this interweaving of historical action with the everyday lives of Undset's characters makes The Wife an engaging and interesting novel.

Sigrid Undset ably uses historical detail and compelling characters to create a detailed and thoroughly-readable account of mediaeval Norway - all of which is rendered into English by the excellent translation by Tiina Nunnally. Nunnally also includes the excised passages from the Archer translation that include Kristin's dialogue with Saint Olav and other important psychological insights that Undset gave into her characters. The dialogue between Kristin and Saint Olav, for example, while sometimes confusing, ensures the reader gains an important insight into the religious and personal life of Kristin Lavransdatter, and again highlights the importance of Christianity in both the lives of the mediaeval people and in the life of Undset herself.

This is another excellent novel by Undset and for its historical, religious, and personal insights into the daily lives of mediaeval Norway is rightly treasured and merits many readings.

"Are you so arrogant that you think yourself capable of sinning so badly that God's mercy is not great enough?"

I go through phases with this series - sometimes I find it plods along stiffly, and at other times I love it. Halfway through this one I was struggling and unmotivated, then the last quarter of the book completely made up for it.

What I would give for a sensitive miniseries adaptation with long wistful shots of the Norwegian landscape!!!!!

I’m really glad that Kristin and Erlund had to suffer for their sins. It helped redeem the disappointment and frustration I had at the end of the first book.
Their relationship is incredibly rocky and terrible, though it is nice to see how much they love one another once they are reconciled with each other.
Erlund is childish and foolish and is frustrating in just about everything he does. Kristin is industrious but she seethes against Erlund at everything he does.
Looking forward to reading the third book.

struggled to follow some of the political scheming and religious sections, but highly enjoyed the continued character development and beautiful imagery

An incredibly broad sweeping story of a mother’s life from the birth of her first child to her 8th within this single novel Undset defines mother hood in all its painful confusing beauty. Woven around a brilliant political backdrop the story engages every facet of our humanity from faith to unrequited love. A true Norwegian saga Kristin lavransdatter is one of the the greatest series ever written