Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Lady of Husaby

Kristin Lavransdatter II: Husfrue · published 1921 · ISBN 9780141181288

Sigrid Undset — Sigrid Undset (1882 – 1949) — Norway, writing in Norwegian. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928.

“principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages” — The Nobel Committee citation

About Sigrid Undset

Norwegian novelist, born in Denmark and raised in Kristiania, who worked as an office secretary before making her living as a writer. She became renowned for reconstructing medieval life through material detail, law, custom and faith, while keeping women’s inner lives at the centre. Undset converted to Catholicism in 1924, spoke openly against Nazism, fled occupied Norway, and returned after the war. Kristin Lavransdatter is her largest achievement and was central to the Nobel Prize in Literature she received in 1928.

How it came to be

Husfrue appeared in 1921 and begins directly after the wedding that closes Kransen. Its title names a wife who is also mistress of a landed household: a position of authority bound to an almost invisible mass of labour. The novel widens from private romance to estate economics, kinship and the political contest surrounding King Magnus Eriksson.

Summary of Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Lady of Husaby

Kristin comes to Husaby as Erlend’s wife and quickly discovers an estate depleted by his neglect. Through pregnancy and the raising of seven sons, she becomes the person who truly runs the household. Erlend remains charming and brave, but political plotting and a habit of living by impulse place the whole family in danger. The love Kristin fought to possess must now survive work, money, children and responsibility.

Analysis & legacy

If the first volume asks whether Kristin may choose whom she loves, the second asks what she will do with that choice. Undset sets desire beside labour: Erlend lives for grand moments, while Kristin keeps people, animals, stores and land alive from day to day. Motherhood both strengthens her and deepens her guilt, because each child embodies her love and recalls how the marriage began. The novel does not make her a saint of endurance; she is controlling, resentful and proud, and sometimes uses her competence to punish her husband. The tragedy of the marriage is that the two still love one another but speak different languages of responsibility.

Themes: Marriage · Motherhood · Invisible labour · Household power · Political intrigue · Consequence

What critics say

• The digital edition returns to the 1921 first edition and presents the textual history of the trilogy’s second volume separately. — Bokselskap, Husfrue scholarly edition

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Frequently asked questions

What is Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Lady of Husaby about?

Kristin comes to Husaby as Erlend’s wife and quickly discovers an estate depleted by his neglect. Through pregnancy and the raising of seven sons, she becomes the person who truly runs the household. Erlend remains charming and brave, but political plotting and a habit of living by impulse place…

Is Kristin Lavransdatter II: The Lady of Husaby worth reading?

If the first volume asks whether Kristin may choose whom she loves, the second asks what she will do with that choice. Undset sets desire beside labour: Erlend lives for grand moments, while Kristin keeps people, animals, stores and land alive from day to day. Motherhood both strengthens her and…

When did Sigrid Undset win the Nobel Prize, and why?

Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928: “principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages”

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