The Bridal Wreath

In fourteenth-century Norway, Kristin Lavransdatter grows up the cherished daughter of a landed, deeply pious family, promised in marriage to a steady and honorable man. Then she meets Erlend Nikulaussøn, whose reckless charm and troubled past pull her away from everything her parents want for her. What follows is a slow collision between love and duty, faith and desire, told with an almost documentary feeling for the customs, seasons, and religion of the medieval North. This is the first book of Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy, the work that carried her to the Nobel Prize. Undset writes about a young woman’s willfulness without excusing or condemning it, which gives the story its lasting force. Available as a free PDF and EPUB edition.