Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, set in medieval Norway, is the Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset’s masterpiece.

I’m rereading this 1,200-page historical classic, not exactly a beach book, but excellent reading in an air-conditioned house during a heat wave.  Yesterday I finished the second volume, The Wife, a stunning, often tragic novel about marriage, religion, pregnancy and politics.

First, here’s a recap of The Wreath,. (Skip this if you know the book.) Undset beautifully describes Kristin’s idyllic childhood and rebellious coming-of-age. She is dismayed when her father betroths her to smart, reliable Simon, who does not attract her; and then she meets Erlend, a handsome gallant, charming older man who saved her from a rapist (though Kristin, who once before fought off a rapist, was already bashing the hell out of him). Both Erlend and Kristin are beautiful, and soon they are having clandestine sex – on some occasions at a house of prostitution, which shows Erlend’s poor judgment: I am horrified. (N.B. He was once banned by the church.) But Kristin and Erlend do marry, and no one realizes that Kristin is already pregnant at the wedding.

The Wife, Book 2, is a more complex novel, and takes us through several years in Kristin’s life as a wife and mother. When they arrive at Husaby, Erlend’s estate, Krisin is horrified by its dilapidated condition. The farm is neglected, the steward has cheated him, the maids are slovenly, and the mattresses are lice-ridden.

Welcome to the Middle Ages!

Undset writes,

Everywhere she had seen ill husbandry, when on the second day she went round with Erlend and looked over the manor and farm.  By the time the feasting was over, little would be left in barn and storehouse; the corn-bins were all but swept clean.  And she could not understand how Erlend could think to keep all the horses and so many cattle through the winter on the little hay and straw that was in the barns–of leaf-fodder there was not enough even for the sheep and goats.

Kristin is like a gentle medieval version of Scarlett O’Hara, taking charge of the house and family during the Civil War, except, of course, there isn’t a war (not at the moment), and Kristin is a devout Christian who labors for her family. And Kristin is married to the handsome man she was in love with, while Scarlett never got Ashley.

Perhaps being married to a handsome man is not ideal? 

The thing is we love Erlend, but he is reckless, talks too freely about politics, and endangers people’s lives during a brief affair with a woman who understands more than he thinks. That’s what happens when you break the Commandments! He is a free spirit, but not a very good husband, though Kristin loves him. They quarrel when he learns she was pregnant at their wedding: he is humiliated and blames Kristin, though he was her seducer.

Kristin’s religious life is at the center of the novel. She prays, she goes to church, and during her many arduous pregnancies she believes she survives because of prayrer. Kristin is constantly ill and pregnant, and had, I think, nine sons. I gave up counting.

Kristin’ has close relationships to many priests, including Erlend’s brother, Gunnar. She wishes to atone for her sin of premarital sex and .pregnancy out of wedlock. After her first son is born, her confessor advises her to go on a pilgrimage, carrying the baby to the shrine of St. Olav to ask forgiveness. And this trip does lighten her burdens. She starts afresh.

So what is this book about?  Religion and sex, politics and pregnancy, set against the tapestry of medieval life.  It takes an exciting political turn late in the book, and I was frantic about Erlend’s future, though I’ve read this so many times. Erlend is so reckless.

I am reading Tina Nunnally’s award-winning translation of Kristin Lavransdatter, in the Penguin editions.  I can’t recommend it too highly.