Author: Sigrid Undset
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication Date: 10 November 2020
Pages: 336
Format: eBook - PDF
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: ARC via NetGalley
The initial volume in the Nobel Prize–winning author’s tumultuous, epic story of medieval Norway—the first new English translation in nearly a century
As a child, Olav Audunssøn is given by his dying father to an old friend, Steinfinn Toressøn, who rashly promises to raise the boy as his foster son and eventually marry him to his own daughter, Ingunn. The two children, very different in temperament, become both brother and sister and betrothed. In the turbulent thirteenth-century Norway of Sigrid Undset’s epic masterpiece, bloodlines and loyalties often supersede law, and the crown and the church vie for power and wealth. Against this background and the complicated relationship between Olav and Ingunn, a series of fateful decisions leads to murder, betrayal, exile, and disgrace. In Vows, the first book in the powerful Olav Audunssøn tetralogy, Undset presents a richly imagined world split between pagan codes of retribution and the constraints of Christian piety—all of which threaten to destroy the lives of two young people torn between desires of the heart and the dictates of family and fortune.
Olav Audunssøn: I. Vows was an engaging read on many levels. The characters and their situation caught my interest from the start, and I enjoyed Undset's saga-like storytelling style. This book is split into two parts, with the first section told from Olav's POV and the second from Ingunn's. I liked Olav in the first section; however, I turned against him a little in the second. This, though, comes from looking at the story and judging his actions with a modern eye; his actions would have been completely acceptable for the time period in which the story is set. I don't think this book has quite the magic of Kristen Lavransdatter, but I would be keen to read on in the tetralogy nonetheless, to find out what will happen to the characters. As far as the translation is concerned, the text flows nicely, with no jarring rhythms. This was a solid 4-star read for me.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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