Kristin Lavransdatter read-along | 2025

[TimeforaGandT]

Following on from The Count of Monte Cristo read-along in the first half of 2025, we are reading Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset for the second half of 2025.

The medieval epic tells the story of a passionate and headstrong woman from childhood in three books : The Wreath, The Wife and The Cross.

It’s a majestic 1124 pages in the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition which has been translated by Tiina Nunnally and this is the edition I am using for page number references. Kudos to anyone who is reading it in the original Norwegian.

There are 67 chapters in total (if I have counted correctly) and the consensus is to read three chapters a week / one every two days with Sundays off. I have ignored the Introduction as part of the read-along as, in my experience, there are often contain spoilers.

Starting on Monday, 7 July our first week looks like this:

The Wreath – Part 1 (Jørundgaard)

Monday / Tuesday – Chapter 1 (pages 5 to 21)
Wednesday / Thursday – Chapter 2 (pages 22 to 37)
Friday / Saturday – Chapter 3 (pages 38 – 47)
Sunday – day off

I will try and tag all those who have previously expressed interest.

I have to say that I am finding the long very detailed descriptions of how handsome her sons are a bit wearisome. She describes them as having darker eyes than Erlend, hair the same colour as hers, looking like Lavrans - like we know what all these people look like!

I did have a lot of sympathy for Ramborg on her swift remarriage with her determination to grab someone who will put her first.

@TonTonMacouteI wasn’t bothered about the descriptions, but I also can’t remember what the different boys look like other than Gaute who looks like Lavrans but has bowlegs (although looks impressive on a horse). Having 7 boys seems to be a challenge for the author as well as for Kristin as it is quite a lot of characterisation.

I am finding it a bit hard to catch up at the moment but now onto the last of this week's chapters. Kristin has had an awful year. I didn't think Erlend's death was quite as moving as Lavran's or Simon's but I suppose he had sort of checked himself out of the story a while ago. Very sad for Kristin that she lost her second youngest son as well as the baby and she seems to be struggling with the others too.

Erlend’s death is very much in keeping with the rest of his life. He evades his responsibilities, then a situation occurs that he could have prevented by being at home, he rides back heroically and totally fails to save the situation. The effect of his behaviour on both Kristin and the boys’ future is devastating.

I wasn’t too far off with the prediction of a « stupid death » for Erlend then, which was completely in character. I was torn between frustration at his raising his axe, the act that started the chain of violence, exasperation at Kristin’s angry words, indignant anger at the townspeople who had decided they should be involved, and real pity for the sons who had to watch. Awful. Both Kristin and Erlend never seemed to be able to be responsible when it mattered most and the manner of his death reflected their life together. I was still sorrowful at their parting though because they did truly love each other, often to the exclusion and detriment of everyone else.

Now the aftermath is playing out. One estate cannot support six adult men; although Erlend saw to it that their futures were largely ruined anyway, with the loss of Husaby.

I really felt for Bjorgulf, and Naakkve. We forget how important the church was for taking in those who had no alternative in life.

Hi all, I'm kind of interrupting here as I'm trying to catch up and haven't read everyone's comments yet. I've just got to the end of vol. 1 of Book 3 ('Honor Among Kin') and am reading the comments as I go along. Hopefully within the next day or so I'll be properly caught up!

So far I'm really enjoying Book 3, more than the other volumes I think. Perhaps it's because I've been with the characters for so long, but both Simon and Erlend are much more nuanced and complicated than I thought they were at the beginning. Virtuous Simon with his unrequited love for Kristin is a more sympathetic character than I ever thought he could be. And Erlend, as some of you have said in your posts, isn't ONLY immature and selfish. He has a code of honour. And he's not one to hold a grudge. In some ways he's endearing because of his transparency; if he's not interested in people, he doesn't pretend to be.

And I feel really sorry for Ramborg now that it's clear she's genuinely been in love with Simon for ages and he doesn't feel the same way. I've read the medieval French Tristan romances, where Tristan is saddled with a younger, second Isolde whom he doesn't love. It's fascinating the way Ramborg identifies with a minor character. Alas, the fate of minor characters!

Anyway I'm gripped again now.

Oh dear. Just when it looked as if Erlend was doing the right thing by returning to defend Kristin's reputation, he blows it by being impulsive etc. Both Simon and Erlend brought their deaths upon themselves by their rash actions. However, this was presumably unsurprising for the period. Given the tumultuous relationship they had and the time they spent apart, I feel that Kristin was mourning for what could have been rather than what they actually had. She had a bad year losing the baby, Erlend and Munan.

Like others, I struggle to keep track of all the boys and the differences between them. We appear to have come full circle with son following father and pre-empting a marriage. But I am hopeful that this might give Kristin a renewed interest in life.

This week we are reading:

Chapter 3 (pages 1033 - 1050)
Chapter 4 (pages 1051 - 1072)
Chapter 5 (pages 1073 - 1083)

and I suspect I will finish the book as it takes us to very near the end!

(Somewhat random thoughts coming up with possible spoilers!)

I am very much enjoying these final chapters. Her relationship with Jofrid and the way that Jofrid and Gaute’s relationship is compared with her own marriage and how that came about is interesting. It gives her the opportunity to re-examine how she behaved and how she has judged herself for it. We really see now that her older sons are grown and make their own (sometimes bad) decisions.

I find Kristin’s relationship with her sons and her nostalgia and yearning for their childhoods and the loss of her youngest two very poignant. This week we follow her on her pilgrimage and she is following in the footsteps of her younger self - I really feel that she is both older and wiser but I also sympathise with her difficulty in accepting that other people now see her as old and expect her to be wiser! The pilgrimage itself sounds harsh (wasn’t it a lot easier the first time round?) I am not sure I could cope with camping in the open air in the mountains...in the rain. I would have actually liked more concrete details about how these sort of long treks were managed. I guess pilgrims expected to be respected as such and helped along the way?

I found it amusing that back at home she argued with her daughter-in-law when she wanted to refuse to let the travellers stay over for a night. At first our sympathies were very much with Kristin - then we find out what the travelling party are really like, we understand Jofrid’s reluctance!

(As an aside - I don’t have my book with me and I couldn’t remember Jofrid’s name so I googled it and got a lot of AI nonsense about Jofrid being married to Simon Andresson.... A bit late in the day but I also came across this blog which has synopses of all three books!)
https://www.sigridundset.com/post/synopsis-the-cross-kristin-lavransdatter

I have now finished the book. The last chapter was gut-wrenching but also somewhat uplifting. Looking forward to the discussion!

I'm still behind at the part where Kristin has spotted Erlend in the church but they remain at loggerheads with each other. I'm going to go for it now and read to the end.

I found the trilogy a bit hard going at times. Maybe my own frame of mind coloured my view of it. I liked the first book best. Sometimes I've found it a bit of a slog.

I have also now finished. I agree I liked the first book best but there were lots of readable parts for me.

I finished 'The Cross' last night. I nearly read it in one fell swoop. I thought it was very good; I was gripped.

I agree, CutFlowers, that there were lots of good episodes in the three books. Simon's death was very moving, for example. It was beautifully written.

I'm glad I read this, even if I struggled with it at times.

I’m hopelessly behind still, but have just started the final ‘The Cross’ section of the third book. It’s become an audiobook read so I’m not as good at following it as I am with a print book.

As a Pride and Prejudice aficionado, I’m finding it interesting how having 7 sons is an economically precarious situation, with the estate to split. Would it have been a very different book if some of the children were girls?

@CornishLizard I am in a similar place to you. Think I might be ch.2 and am alternating between audio and kindle and have basically not started anything new until I finish it.

Now I am coming to the end, I feel I have liked it, even though whilst reading I was sure I didn't. Isn't that weird.

I went through a few stages where I found it quite hardgoing and others when I couldn't put it down! I think it is quite a hard book to read three chapters a week (at least I found it hard) as I kept on getting behind or ahead. That said, I probably would never read it without this thread - and everyone's insightful comments kept me going. Even after finishing last week my mind keeps on going back to various moments and feeling a bit sad that my journey with Kristin has come to an end! Thank you everyone, especially @TimeforaGandT .

It's interesting that others felt ambivalent about parts of the book as well.

I struggled with minor characters at times and I had the impression that I should know who people were and I didn't. Undset was talking about them as people I should know and I'm like...who?!
Maybe I wasn't concentrating enough.

I have finished but know that some have not so won't discuss final chapters yet.

The book ebbed and flowed for me with some chapters being real page turners and others requiring more effort. I think the longer chapters sometimes made it more difficult to stay with readalong.

However, I am really glad that I did finish it. I thought the sense of place was really good at the different estates and places and could conjure them up in my mind from the descriptions. I also really liked the descriptions of the landscape and nature. I never really got a grasp though on how far apart places were when they were travelling from Husaby to Jørundgård etc. or from Husaby to Nidaros.

I agree that I lost track of who some characters were and had to look back sometimes but I think some of this may be due to the names being unfamiliar and not resonating with me so not sticking in my mind.

Kristin was a great character with strengths and flaws and very much shaped or driven by events. I think she would have been a very different woman if she had not met Erlend and instead married Simon as planned.

I never really got a grasp though on how far apart places were when they were travelling from Husaby to Jørundgård etc. or from Husaby to Nidaros.
Very true. See my comment earlier about being surprised that the second pilgrimage took so much longer... I didn't realise that she was starting from a completely different place!

Final chapters this week for those who have not already finished:

Chapter 6 - pages 1084 - 1092
Chapter 7 - pages 1093 - 1124

The End!

I agree that Kristin's life could have been so different if she had married Simon. She would have had security and stability and an easier life, I think.

Thanks Time.

On locations and distances - I found the same and I think it’s definitely something that I could do with a bit more help with when reading in translation. If a British novel were talking about, say, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Canterbury, then a British reader might have a general sense of distances as general knowledge, and it would be the same for Norwegian readers of this in the original language. Earlier in the book I was reading the paperback more and referred often to the map at the front - not available so readily now I’m primarily listening.

Would have made for a more boring book though!

For sure :)

I’ve now finished - I have enjoyed the trilogy & will reread at some point. I’ve also really enjoyed the readalong (my first) especially once I adjusted to the discipline of reading the weekly chapters. I particularly liked the detail of the historical settings & the complexity of the characters).

I think the book needs a map (which many historical novels & fantasy have). I can’t remember if my edition included one & will be checking when I read the preface (I skipped the preface once I realised it included spoilers - I do wish Penguin would move their introductions to classics to the end of the book as it makes much more sense to read it after reading the text). I had no idea where the locations were either. Generally my kindle works really well for me, but I do miss the maps & family trees in actual books.

I think Kristin’s life would have been similar to that of her father had she married Simon. She would have had a partner, who she could have respected and one who could match her abilities. Simon could have ran their combined estates as well as Lavrans & Kristin could have run the household as well as her mother. Outwardly, it would have been a very successful marriage & they could have been a local “power couple”. The issue would have been that Kristin - like Lavrans - would have been married to someone whose feelings she could not match & what would happen had she eventually come across Erlend (or someone else) who she could love. Would she (1) have suppressed her feelings (as Lavrans did) or (2) succumbed to them? Either option though wouldn’t have been that original. Variations on (1) have been a fairly common idea in novels for centuries as it’s the virtuous option (La Princesse de Cleves is the example that I thought of & that’s 17th century). (2) is a standard adultery plot & there have been lots of variations on that too often ending in tragedy (Return of the Native is the one that springs to mind with the caveat that I haven’t read it for a long time). I think Sigrid Undset’s version was a lot more unusual & interesting (although I would have quite liked a version with a happy ending where Kristin & Simon marry as a second marriage but that wouldn’t have been in keeping with the novel).