The Book Corner — May 2026

“The trilogy is such an odd, and oddly appealing, mixture of piety and earthiness. The natural world, described in passages of finely-wrought prose as beautiful as anything in Tolkien, keeps encroaching on the spiritual realm, described as fervently as anything in the writings of Teresa of Avila. This is after all, the medieval ages of Scandinavia, a social and cultural and spiritual midpoint between the old paganism of the Norse cultures and the civilizing yet stern influence of the Catholic Church. There is something of Arthurian legend in Kristin and Erlend’s romance, as well as something of Sir Walter Scott’s idealized historical romances…”