5/28/2023 0 Comments The Cross by Sigrid Undset![]() ![]() In the first part, Kristin and her husband Erlend pay the price of sin, both through the penance that is required of them and in the fruit of suspicion and mistrust that fills the space in between the two. This novel of more than 350 pages is divided into three parts. ![]() The author compellingly creates a world where people take their rights as freeborn citizens in Norway and their faith as late medieval Roman Catholics seriously, as the author takes her faith and nationality seriously, and the result is a novel that makes the past come alive in ways that are beautiful, compelling, and deeply melancholy at the same time. Without being either Catholic or Norwegian, I feel that the author taps into what it means to be both of those things in making this book a compelling novel about a woman growing up from young adulthood into adulthood as a fierce and strong woman who pays the price for having chosen to be with a heedless and thoughtless man and living with integrity according to that mistaken choice. ![]() Ultimately, I think the achievement of this work cannot be separated from the author’s worldview. While admittedly the first novel of this series was mildly irritating in that it reminded me of people I have known in the past and still know today who are far too much like the main character, with this novel I think I really appreciated what it is about the author’s work that is so remarkable. The Mistress Of Husaby (Kristin Lavransdatter II), by Sigrid Undset ![]()
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