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Sigrid Undset
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The Bridal Wreath: Kristin Lavransdatter, Vol.1 (The Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy) Kindle Edition

by Sigrid Undset (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 147 ratings
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From the Nobel Prize-winning author who "should be the next Elena Ferrante” (Slate) comes  a stormy romance set in 14th-century Norway. 

The acknowledged masterpiece of the Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter has never been out of print in this country since its first publication in 1927. Its story of a woman's life in fourteenth-century Norway has kept its hold on generations of readers, and the heroine, Kristin—beautiful, strong-willed, and passionate—stands with the world's great literary figures.

Volume 1, The Bridal Wreath, describes young Kristin's stormy romance with the dashing Erlend Nikulausson, a young man perhaps overly fond of women, of whom her father strongly disapproves.
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  1. Book 1 of 3
    The Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy
  2. Print length
    289 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Vintage
  6. Publication date
    March 23, 2011
  7. File size
    1228 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sigrid Undset's trilogy embodies more of life, seen understanding and seriously…than any novel since Dostoievsky's Brothers Karamazov.” —Commonweal“No other novelist has bodied forth the medieval world with such richness and fullness.” —New York Herald Tribune


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Volume one of the trilogy; Kristin's girlhood.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004JHYRQS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (March 23, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 23, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1228 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 147 ratings

About the author

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Sigrid Undset

Sigrid Undset

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Sigrid Undset (20 May 1882 – 10 June 1949) was a Norwegian novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.

Undset was born in Kalundborg, Denmark, but her family moved to Norway when she was two years old. In 1924, she converted to Catholicism. She fled Norway for the United States in 1940 because of her opposition to Nazi Germany and the German invasion and occupation of Norway, but returned after World War II ended in 1945.

Her best-known work is Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy about life in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages, portrayed through the experiences of a woman from birth until death. Its three volumes were published between 1920 and 1922.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Aage Remfeldt / Aage Rasmussen (1889-1983) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
147 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Nina A. Schwartz
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss This Classic!
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2015
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This book was once described to me as "a great broken leg book"-- great reading if you were laid up with a broken leg, or anything less serious. I agree--but don't put off reading it till you're laid up! The action follows Kristin, daughter of a 14-century Norwegian knight, from early childhood through coming of age and marriage. Kristin, intelligent, willful and passionate, falls in love with a discredited nobleman against her family's wishes. In an age when people were rarely married for love, will their love win out? Several of the characters are memorable, among them Kristin's father Lavrans, the gentleman farmer; Brother Edvin, the monk who befriends Kristin; and Arne, Simon, and Erlend, the men who each love her. At the end, Kristin's mother Ellen, usually silent, stunningly reveals her own motivations. The descriptions of the landscape, towns and villages, are poetically beautiful, and the speaking style natural (thank goodness). People sound modern, even when espousing 14th-century ideas. A reader's feast!
9 people found this helpful
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Barnard E. Turner
4.0 out of 5 stars not really such a bad translation
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2013
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Nunnally's Penguin edition is now available only in an unwieldy omnibus edition, so this Archer and Scott translation is all we have left in more portable single volumes. Several people here have commented that they find Archer and Scott demanding, or unmusical, etc., with all its archaisms, etc. I read Nunnally's translation many years ago, and have a 1923 "Norwegian" edition I dip into to check things (although I can't say that my knowledge of the language is that great). Sure, Archer and Scott leave a few bits out, and the "'twases," "wot yous" etc can jar a little. And Undset doesn't use such archaisms, although what these exactly would be in her language is a moot point. Yet why should be think of this as an easy read, why shouldn't we stumble over passages since the book looks back now some 700 years? Undset said that writing of the past was really writing about the present, but it might not always have to seem so. We should be a little alienated from the past in historical fiction (think of the contrivances in Walter Scott's fictions: manuscripts left in carriages etc.) , should be reminded of the temporal distance, and Archer and Scott's translation is still around, with a helpful glossary. It might be lightly revised, if the plates are still there, but I don't think it has been entirely "superseded" as some commentators here maintain.
8 people found this helpful
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Betty J. Blankenship
5.0 out of 5 stars A "Reread" that I am enjoying and looking forward to reading many more books by this author.
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2014
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I was given this trilogy about the life of Kristin Lavransdatter as a Chritmas present by a person I was working with in the late 70s. It is some of the best writing that I have ever read even though it has been translated into English. I had misplaced the books during one of our moves but a few week ago I found the last book in the trilogy, "The Cross," in a closet in my daughter's house. I was able to get the correct spelling, etc. and of course went straight to Amazon to find it. Not only found that Amazon has this trilogy but most of the books that this fine author wrote.

Thanks to Kindle, I will be able to reread the ones I have read and I am looking forward to reading the ones I have not yet had the opportunity to read. Thanks Amazon! I do highly recommend these books to anyone looking for good reading experiences!

Betty Blankenship
2 people found this helpful
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Dena
3.0 out of 5 stars Laborious but worth it
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2014
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This story truly delves into the history of the 14th century in Norway. The translation is laborious, but a story that is well developed and makes a person want to read the second and third parts of the triology -- maybe after retirement. It took some serious hours to get through the book.
2 people found this helpful
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Laura E.
5.0 out of 5 stars A true classic
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2016
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A wonderfully written book. At the beginning, Undset does a marvelous job of seeing the world through a child's eyes. And as Kristin grows older, into her teen years, the dialogue takes on Shakespearean qualities, especially between her and Erlend. Very poetic. The ending leaves one breathless as to Kristin's fate. The wedding scenes and the very last part with her parents do not seem to bode well for the future.

A joy to read and I look forward to the next book in the trilogy.
3 people found this helpful
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S.Lemler
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2018
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Husband loves it.
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Scarlet Kinney
5.0 out of 5 stars Life in Medieval Norway Under Catholic Rule
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2017
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This first book in Undset's Nobel-prize-winning trilogy brings the reader into the emotional lives of people living under Catholic rule in medieval Norway, and the ways in which they suffer because of the Church's indoctrination. Amazing book, hard to read at times for a 21st century feminist, but so masterfully written that I couldn't put it down.
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Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry
1.0 out of 5 stars One of the world's greatest masterpieces in a bad, superseded translation
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013
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Kristin Lavransdatter is one of the greatest novels in history, and without a doubt it should be counted alongside the likes of War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, and Madame Bovary.

But this is not the translation you should read--needlessly antiquated, bowdlerized, plodding. Get Tina Nunnally's translation, which is wonderful. Yes, it's not available on Kindle. Even if you're like me and prefer reading ebooks over paper, you should still suck it up and buy the paper book. For an English-speaker, Tina Nunnally's translation is thus far the only good way to experience the masterpiece that is Kristin Lavransdatter.
18 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal author
Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2019
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Amazing book.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars very interesting story.
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2019
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Very interesting story. cant wait to read book 2. Definitely can relate to Kristin and her story.
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Mel Powell
4.0 out of 5 stars A slice of life in Medieval Norway
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 20, 2014
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I enjoyed reading this as much as I did way back when I was a teenager. It's still as engrossing but my perspective has changed. This time around I was more appreciative of the picture of early medieval Norway and the impact of status and religion on every day life. It's well researched with notes and references.
The characters are also richly imagined and although, I suppose it's a romance essentially, it delivers much more than this on reading.
Good kindle copy.
One person found this helpful
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Alison
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2014
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Sigurd Undset's novels are great - so true to life - historically - and still inspiring.
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balashare
1.0 out of 5 stars A tremendous read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2013
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I absolutely loved this book, and it is a great shame that it currently appears to be out of print in this country except perhaps in hardback. I was recommended the trilogy by a historian, for I had complained that so many historical novels were often annoyingly factually inaccurate and tended to focus on a love interest. The book is a real saga, concentrating, in the first book, on the coming of age of the heroine Kristin.Yes, it is a romantic novel, but it is much more than that. The story line is strong and the different characters wonderfully drawn. Kiristin is virutous but easily led astray. Her hero is a slick Casanova and deeply flawed. There is the faithful boyhood friend, the sick sister, the universally respected father...all the ingredients of an ageless classic novel. The descriptions of mediaeval everyday life and customs in Norway are fascinating, and the footnotes very helpful in elaborating on the more obscure.
I enjoyed too the beautifully evocative desciptions of the countryside and the seasons. All in all, it was a book that I found hard to put down, but didnt' want to finish either. I can't wait to read the Mistress of Husaby and The Cross.
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