Kristin Lavransdatter read-along | 2025

Just caught up. Agree it seems a bit of a sticky situation for Kristin at the moment.

I was interested in how the Bishop has asked that the not proper novices don't wear convent gear when they go home so not to embarass the church. Seems they are aware their safeguarding is a bit remiss. Not sure I'd be too happy as the parents in this situation.

(I am off on a quick holiday and then visiting relatives. Unfortunately KL just looks a bit too heavy to lug around so I will catch up with you towards the end of the month - happy reading!)

Well that went wrong fast!
I think Kristin has been incredibly sheltered and has now fallen hard in the worst possible way. Sexual infatuation can be very powerful.
But she starts out thinking of Erland as Fru Aashild’s handsome nephew as she described him to her, but then we count up the red flags: excommunicated, committed adultery, father of two children whom he doesn’t see, has effectively abandoned his mistress and if his « romantic » faults weren’t enough, he’s wasted his property and inheritance and seems completely deluded as to what his family think of him and dangles great future prospects in front of Kristin! Omg, what would the Relationships board make of all that?! He’s a complete waster and fantasist!

Agree that she wanted to be pregnant so that he might be forced to recognise her; without that she has no hold on him at all.

This really brings it home how important in the last century it has been for women to have financial independence (the only thing that saved Fru Aashild too) and to be able to shift for ourselves when the chips are down. Kristin has none of that.

Erlend has behaved incredibly badly towards Kristin and I wonder if he will desert her. A real wrong un. He knew how much harm it would do to her, and knows he would probably be punished again too. Is he really in love? Or one of those blokes who means it when he says it?

I don't think Kristin realised how stupid she had been until she saw how shocked Edvin was.

Ah, good point @CornishLizard about how a pregnancy would effectively put an end to the possibility of marrying Simon.

And yes, that's interesting (and a bit comical!) about the lack of good convent novitiates.

I also felt a sense of doom and foreboding reading this week's chapters.
Kristin being happy to be Erlend's possession is disturbing.

I’ve caught up too. Also not a fan of Erlend - the risks for Kristin are terrible. I suppose the best slant that can be put on it is that her only chance of escaping the marriage that her parents are arranging is to have a de facto union with someone else.

I liked the bit a few chapters ago about the convent and how terrible it is that families now will only send unmarriageable daughters to become nuns, unlike in the good old days of real piety.

Kristin wanting to be pregnant is also disconcerting. An unwed, pregnant teen: what are you thinking, Kristin?!

I've just caught up as well. I'm surprised at how fast things are moving! I wasn't expecting Kristin to be seduced quite so quickly. And I agree @FuzzyCaoraDhubh about Erlend and the many red flags. He completely minimises his relationship with his previous mistress Eline, but they were together long enough to have TWO children, come on!

The legal punishment of Erlend for committing adultery is interesting. I suspect it's because women are seen at least to some degree as possessions, and he's stolen another man's wife, which is unacceptable.

Kristin does seem very emotionally immature - not so different to a modern teenager! She's completely head over heels.

The portrayals of the nuns and priests are sympathetic on the whole (apart from Eirik earlier in the novel). Fru Groa seems firm but fair, and Brother Edvin is also kind and humane.

I have a terrible sense of doom and foreboding 😯

I have read to the end of this week's chapters. I am quite surprised at the degree of freedom that Kristin has! She even gets to sleep on her own in the loft when her uncle's family goes off....hmmm....doesn't seem very responsible of them!

It throws Ingeborg in a slightly more favourable light. She obviously knew about Erland's dodgy past so maybe that's why she never passed on his messages to Kristin. However, I can't even convince myself about this theory, if she had really wanted to protect her friend she would have alerted the nuns to the fact that Kristin had gone awol. I'm thinking frenemy, though maybe through silliness rather than malice.

There was a big religious festival (they seem to have a lot!) so that had attracted fair people to the town, one of them had got wild exotic animals.

There are more red flags than there are red ribbons in Kristen's thick blonde hair.

Where did the leopard come from anyway??

I have read chapters three and four.

The plan for Kristen's stay at the convent has really gone off track. Safeguarding my eye! There's no-one looking out for her. And this Erlend guy seems like bad news. There's trouble ahead <taps nose in a wise manner>

Enjoyed this chapter, but not too impressed by the nuns' safeguarding efforts.

Just caught up today. 😀 How is everyone getting on?

There has been so much turbulence in Kristen's world; the killing of her best friend, the accusations of misconduct, moving out of home and then another threat of physical/sexual assault. Life in those times wasn't easy for anyone and particularly if you were young and female.

I was upset to read about Arne's pointless death. It was mean, brutal and unnecessary. His parents had gone through their own share of misfortune already. Life could be difficult for people with the death of children, crop failure, loss of property. If you were well off, I suppose you were relatively secure.

The information about Norway was interesting. Thanks, Janina.

Thanks so much for the lovely welcome 💕Thoroughly enjoying it so far but my goodness Kristin is having a tough time. Her sister's accident, a very distant Mother, sexual assault and now her best friend/secret love has been stabbed to death. Goodness that Bentein is a bad un!

Agreed. But I was pretty impressed that she managed to knock him down by throwing a rock at his head!

That's interesting @Janina. I didn't realise Norway wasn't independent until relatively recently.

And agree totally about the sexual assault. Horrible that it is Kristen's fault.

@TonTonMacoute Yes to everything you say about the sexual assault! It's awful. And the reaction of Arne's mother (verbally attacking Kristin) is particularly upsetting.

Simon does come off looking reasonably sympathetic in terms of his reaction to the events. However, close to the end of the chapter he does remark to Kristin's parents that he thinks Kristin has been allowed to mingle too freely with the servants. Kristin is understandably put off by this: Kristin turned away, and the desire she had felt for a moment to put her arms around Simon Darre's neck had vanished completely.

Interesting comments @JaninaDuszejko about the beginning of the novel imitating the Norse sagas; I didn't know that.

Final observation is about the names many of them sound very different to modern names and I wonder if a Norwegian reader would find the same.

Orkney and Shetland were still part of Norway at this point and the old norse names mostly fell out of favour over the centuries but in the 19th century there was a revival of the old Viking names and that has continued to the present. Norway became independent in 1905 and there was a big revival of nationalism. The capital's name was changed from Kristiania (named after a Danish king) to the old norse name Oslo and the first king of the newly independent country was known as King Haakon. Kristin Lavransdatter is part of this revival of nationalism, the 14th century was the last time before the 20th century that Norway was independent.

The other thing I wanted to say was about the family history in the first chapter. The Norse Sagas were first written down between the 12th and 14th centuries and they all start with a family history showing how the families were important and related to royalty. So I assumed Sigrid Undset was referencing the sagas when I read that.