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From Nobel Prize winning author Sigrid Undset, The Garland is a captivating coming-of-age story set to the vivid backdrop of 14th-century Norway. This classic romance novel is the first installment in the much-loved Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy.
Kristin Lavransdatter is the headstrong daughter of a noble Norwegian family who does her best to rebel against them at every opportunity. When she is sent to be straightened out at a nunnery, Kristin’s life alters forever, much to the horror of her father. Despite being betrothed to another, Kristin finds herself falling into the tangled web of an excommunicated member of the Catholic church.
Sigrid Undset weaves themes of corruption, religion, sin and forbidden love through a beautiful presentation of life in 14th century Norway. This historical fiction novel depicts a young girl’s struggle with faith and family obligation in a story that is still as relevant to modern-day life as it was when it was first published in 1920.
Republished by Read & Co. Books, The Garland is now in a new edition featuring an excerpt from Six Scandinavian Novelists by Alrik Gustafrom. This volume is a highly recommended read for fans of historical fiction and collectors of Sigrid Undset’s work.
Sigrid Undset
Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), Norwegian novelist, essayist, and Catholic convert, was born in Denmark, the eldest daughter of a Norwegian father and a Danish mother. She converted to Catholicism in 1924 and became a lay Dominican. Undset's many published works include the novels Mrs. Marta Oulie, The Happy Age, Gunnar's Daughter, and Kristin Lavransdatter, her most famous work. In 1928, she received the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the third woman to be so honored.
Undset was an outspoken critic of Nazism and fled to Brooklyn, New York, upon the German occupation of Norway. She returned to her homeland in 1945 and two years later was awarded Norway's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav, for her "distinguished literary work and for service to her country."
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