When the final volume of Kristin Lavransdatter was first published in English in 1927, Commonweal wrote, "Sigrid Undset's trilogy embodies more of life, seen understandingly and seriously...than any other novel since Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov". This new translation by the award-winning Tiina Nunnally brings Undset's remarkable epic to life with clarity and lyrical beauty.Originally published in Norwegian in 1920 and set in fourteenth-century Norway, The Wreath chronicles the courtship of a strong-willed and passionate young woman and a dangerously charming and impetuous man. Undset recreates the historical backdrop in vivid detail, immersing readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions, and political undercurrents of the period. Her prose combines the sounds and style of Nordic ballads, European courtly poetry, and religious literature. But the story Undset tells is a modern one; not only does it mirror the political and religious anxieties of post-World War I, but it introduces a heroine who has long captivated contemporary readers. With her defiance of her parents' disapproval of her suitor and her headstrong pursuit of her own happiness, Kristin emerges as a woman who not only loves with power and passion but one who intrepidly confronts her sexuality.

西格麗德•溫塞特，挪威偉大的天纔作傢。她一生寫瞭36本書，每一本書都不會令讀者感到乏味。她是一個偉大的敘事者，對錯綜復雜的人類思維有著深刻而現實的瞭解。她創作的主題雖然是挪威的，但顯然也是歐洲和世界的，幾乎所有主要文字都有瞭她的作品的譯本。即使到瞭21世紀，她的著作對讀 者仍具極強的吸引力，《剋裏斯汀的一生》一書仍然齣現在挪威暢銷書榜單和人們最經常閱讀的作品榜單之中。1928年，“由於她對中世紀北國生活那強而有力的描述”，溫塞特榮獲諾貝爾文學奬。