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.

Enjoyed it too. Great characters.

Ignoring the confusing opening paragraphs (people and places), I found this very easy reading. The descriptions of the scenery were excellent at painting a picture of the setting. Interested to see where it goes with the elf maiden. I was surprised that they all went to sleep without anyone keeping watch for either predatory animals or hostile humans.

It was mentioned that Lavrans was married at a young age and was 28 when he arrived at Sil. It's not entirely clear how old he was when he married but given that this is set in medieval times, it would surely have been normal to have been married at a young age and not unusual at all to have a 7 year old child by the age of 28.

I liked the description of the relationship between father and daughter. It's very tender.

My heart did sink a bit at the first page or so - all those Scandinavian names! However, that soon passed and the rest of the chapter was lovely. Wonderful description of the landscape and the way of life of the people. Plus some peril - possibly mythological- then everyone getting pissed, including the kids, and finally a panicky dad making everyone promise that on no account will anyone tell his wife what happened!

Looking forward to this

I thought the translation was easy to read - certainly when I got past the introduction of the characters. I wanted to mention that specifically, as it’s quite a skill & the translator deserves credit for it.

The pace really picked up at the elf maiden part, which I wasn’t expecting as it was quite a change from the character section. The relationship of the parents is intriguing - handsome and popular father with an older, plainer and introverted wife.

The relationship of the parents is intriguing - handsome and popular father with an older, plainer and introverted wife.

There’s a whole potential mumsnet thread right there!

Can I join please? I have a copy

Found you all, my copy arrived at the bookshop yesterday.

Apologies for my absolute tardiness, new job has indeed taken a lot, after 5 weeks of training in various capacities I am finally ready to start properly. Thank you @TimeforaGandT for moving it all forward.

Will go back and read what you’ve all decided and very happy to be a participant this time.

Welcome @helphelpimbeingrepressed. Good timing as we have only read Chapter 1.

Good to see you @AgualusasLover. We started yesterday and are doing one chapter every two days with Sundays off. If (and it’s a big if) I have calculated correctly we will finish early December,

Absolutely perfect.

After all of my faffing about my copy doesn’t say who the translator is and, in fact, on comparing it to the Kindle version of the one we’ve mostly been looking at, I clearly have a different translation. I compared the first page and I think I can live worth it. Sigh.

Or I take it back for a £30 refund and get the Kindle £12 copy.

I don’t own a kindle, but would say this book would be as good a contender as anything for an e-book. The paperback is heavy and has ragged edges - I’m finding it tricky to flick back a page when I want to. The first of the 3 books is the shortest but I’ve been wondering about trying to get hold of one or both of the later ones as single volumes if it’s not easier to handle the paperback when further through.

That's annoying, Agua!

That could be quite a debate - on the one hand Ragnfrid is definitely limiting her husband’s life, but then she is grieving the loss of their three children.

It sounds like you have the older translation, Agualusa, instead of Nunnally's modern one. I read that the language of the older translation is deliberately antiquated, to sound more medieval, and (as Janina mentioned) that it leaves out some sex scenes. Personally I prefer translations that sound modern, as I think there's something inauthentic about a translator trying to mimic the language of an earlier era.

CornishLizard, the ragged edges are called 'deckle edge' and are popular in the US for some reason; I wonder if the trilogy edition is an American edition?

As I mentioned before, my three-volume Penguin edition (which I bought a few years ago) is an American one. I have a feeling that the Nunnally translation was issued by Penguin in the US and is therefore harder to get hold of in the UK.

A comment on the actual story (!): I notice that the novel is called The Wreath and that we have two wreaths in chapter 1: the one little Kristin weaves herself, and the golden one that the fairy lady shows to her just afterward, when she is beckoning for Kristin to join her. I'm not yet ready to speculate on the symbolic significance of these wreaths though!

I'm not a fan of the cover art on my edition of Vol. 1. So twee! A bit pre-Raphaelite but not as good as the pre-Raphaelites.

I noticed the reference to the wreaths cassandre and filed it away in my brain for future reference :)

Thank you cassandre - yes my copy (bought secondhand online) must be American, it has US and Canadian prices on the back - I hadn’t realised it would be different, I thought the edging must be what it meant by ‘deluxe’! Do people get the hang of being able to flick back and forward through books like that? Don’t let me put you off a paper copy Agualusa!

Whilst I do have the three volume hefty paperback, I can see that I will weaken and buy it on Kindle too if I am away to save lugging the actual book with me.

Dammit! I wish I'd gone with the Kindle now too after reading this. Still waiting for my paper copy to arrive.

Chapter 3; a difficult read. Poor family!
Fru Aashild is an intriguing woman.

I'm so happy to have found this thread! The book was a gift from ds but it remained on the 'to be read' pile until you spurred me on to get started. Have just finished ch3.
I'll be interested to learn more about Fru Aashild and the impact these events will all have on Kristin and her family.
My SiL was named after the main character as MiL loved the books so much.

Welcome to the thread @MagpieCastle!