Daughter, Wife, Mother: Kristin Lavransdatter

Kristin Lavransdatter (The Wreath, The Wife, and The Cross)

by Sigrid Undset

translated by Tiina Nunnally

This book is a masterpiece of historical fiction set in fourteenth century Norway. Kristin Lavransdattar is a beloved child who becomes a loving wife in a marriage between two deeply flawed people, a mother full of love and anxiety, and a wayward child of Christ. 

I first read this book as a young wife without children. I enjoyed it, but didn't realize it's true worth until this second reading. I don't know if it's my own maturity or the new translation, but I understood and loved Kristin much more.

But always with that secret, breathless anguish: If things go badly for them, I won't be able to bear it. And deep in her heart she wailed at the memory of her father and mother. They had borne anguish and sorrow over their children, day after day, until their deaths; they had been able to carry this burden, and it was not because they loved their children any less, but because they loved with a better kind of love. (p. 854)

A simple search online will reveal hundreds of sites sharing great thoughts on this book; I won't bother to attempt anything to compete with them. I do, however, encourage you to read this trilogy if you haven't already, or if you haven't read it in many years. If the single volume intimidates you, find some copies of the three books individually. The new translation is more accessible than previous translations.

Feeling of longing seemed to burst from her heart; they ran in all directions, like streams of blood, seeking out paths to all the places in the wide landscape where she had lived, to all her sons roaming through the world, to all her dead lying under the earth. (p. 1062)

Highly recommended. 

I have received nothing in exchange for this review. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links. I purchased this book with a gift card from my brother's family.

Back in Print and Wonderful: Black Fox of Lorne

Black Fox of Lorne 

by Marguerite de Angeli

I had the opportunity to proofread this book for Hillside Education in June. I waited to post about it until the final touches were complete and it was officially back in print. Hillside is doing good work, people!

Marguerite de Angeli, who wrote the familiar and wonderful The Door in the Wall, also wrote this book about twin thirteen-year-old boys of Norway who find themselves stranded alone by storm and sword in Scotland at the time of Malcolm II. Only one brother is captured; the other remains free which allows them to take turns as the captive and simultaneously discover the cruel plots by their captor. The boys remember and follow the teaching and advice of their father and their lessons in Norway: mastering their anger, keeping silent in company, training their bodies to endure hardships, mastering skills despite lack of interest.

Along the way, they encounter Christians who teach the boys about Jesus, in words and actions.

Memory of St. Andrew’s martyrdom strengthens our faith and makes us able to endure hardship and grief, and to know joy that Jesus, the Lamb of God, gave His life for every man.

The example of Christians who wait on the Lord gives the boys strength to endure their mistreatment and the patience to wait for the right time to exact revenge on their father's murderer. (In the end, as the Christian suggests may happen, the villain meets his fate at the hates of the king.)

In His good time, He will help us,” said Murdoch. “Perhaps He is helping us now, though we see it not. God’s ways are not our ways. We must have faith, for even when all seems against us, all seems lost, we later find that all was for the best. Sometimes one must lose that many others may gain, even as Christ gave His life for us all. We must have faith."

The boys naturally raise questions about the faith, many of which are interesting ones.

“Why does this Gavin make the sign then, when he is cruel as I know he is? He seems to like being thought cruel. Why makes he the sign?" asked Ian again.

When they hear the story of Jesus calming the storm, the boys ask why the storm that destroyed their ship was not stilled.

“Who shall say that ye were not sent here for a purpose?” asked Gregory. “I be but a shepherd, and know these things only by hearing the holy pilgrims tell of them, but I know them to be true, though I know not the reason for the way things happen. We can only hope and believe, for often good cometh of seeming evil, as the lily grows from the slime and dung which feeds it.”

More than once, Brus and Ian do not strike their enemy when he is in a position of weakness.

Brus wondered why he had troubled to save him. Yet, save him he had, surely. Then, he seemed to hear his father’s voice, as clearly as if he had really spoken, saying, “—and be just to all men.”

But was it “just” to save the life of an enemy? “Yes,” Murdoch Gow said. “Love thine enemy, hate him not, but hate the thing he does.”

This is a story of courage and virtue, full of wisdom passed from father to son, and boys who eventually choose their own paths. The end is wonderfully exciting.

There are a few deaths, though not presented in a gruesome way. This book would be appropriate to read aloud to a wide range of ages, but I will probably have my children read it independently in late elementary or middle school. It would be particularly appropriate if studying the history of England and Scotland around the year 1000, but worthwhile anytime.