I have come to look forward to these Olav Audunssøn books!

It is medieval Norway - the 1300's - a time of great upheaval for the country from internal politics to neighboring conflicts with Sweden and Denmark. And what is happening on a country-sized scaled is reflected in the life of Olav Audunssøn, a moderately wealthy land owner racked with guilt over past events and his estrangement from his son, and who wonders what the future holds for someone like himself, now in midlife and looking toward his waning years.

Olav accepts an opportunity to be a part of a merchant ship headed to England - though this is clearly more about Olav trying to escape his past than it is about being on a merchant ship or traveling to England.

In England Olav meets a woman, at church, who he at first thinks is his beloved Ingunn (though clearly it can't be). The resemblance is so striking to Olav that he imagines this woman with all of Ingunn's traits and when he believes she's inviting him back to her home (he doesn't speak her language nor she, his) he's full-on in his Ingunn fantasy. But reality teaches him a hard lesson.

Olav returns home to a son who now stands up for himself and is ready to strike out on his own. But Olav won't be alone for long ... the Swedes are invading.

These books are so well written and so beautifully translated that the reader is pulled into the story and brought along on the journey. We don't feel like observers, but participants.

This volume, in the four book series, had a bit of a Gulliver's Travels feel to it - much more episodic with mini stories that each had their own solution (the sailing, the woman who looked like Ingunn, the confrontation with the son, invasion of the Swedes, etc) rather than all intertwined throughout the course of the novel.

This might be my least favorite of the books in the series that I've read so far. Olav behaves here 'out of character' for what we've seen of him to this point. While I recognize that he is changing - and struggling with his changing - the instance with the woman in England feels way too different from everything else we’ve seen of Olav.

But ... the title of this volume is "Crossroads" and Olav is clearly at this intersection and wondering (and wandering) what the rest of his life holds in store. If there's a sentence in this books which defines this volume it would be: "It became clearer to him how little a middle-aged man counted in the world when he’d been stripped of everything, such as property and powerful kinsmen, that increased his worth."

The book ends with the clash with the Swedes and Olav taking on the new role of organizing a muster of farmers to protect and defend their land. I will be interested to see how much this plays into the final book.

Looking for a good book? Olav Audunssøn: III. Crossroads by Sigrid Undset and translated by Tiina Nunnally, is an absolutely engaging tale of a man in medieval Norway trying to find his path in life and understand how he fits in to God's greater plan.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Part three of four of Olav Audunsson arrives, and Sigrid Undset fans are cheering. I'm one of them, having read the three volume Kristen Lavransdatter forty years ago. I've pressed it on other book lovers, but few have accepted the adventure of a 1100 page journey with a fourteenth century Norwegian woman. Olav is equally fascinating, and the four volumes do not have to be read through, but each volume builds on the one before and, if the reader gets hooked, that might happen.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I’ve been following the story of Olav Audunsson (also known as The Master of Hestviken) in the new translation of Sigrid Unset’s masterpiece set in 13th-14th century Norway. (The translator is Tiina Nunnally.) The story is told in four volumes. I’ve read Book I: Vows and Book II: Providence, and reviewed them previously. The current book, Book III, is called Crossroads. I highly recommend reading them in order or the power of the story will be lost.

Book III continues seamlessly from where Book II ends. Olav is master of the profitable estate called Hestviken. He’s still young (late thirties), handsome, and healthy. However, he grieves the loss of his wife, Ingunn, who was the love of his life, despite their terrible experiences apart and together. Olav has resolved never to remarry or take a mistress because he still feels bound to her.

He has an heir, Eirik, who he has claimed as his own, although the child was fathered by a man who raped Ingunn. Eirik is growing to manhood. Although the reader can have flashes of sympathy for him, he’s not a likable boy. He’s given to whining, boasting, and lying. However, he senses that his father doesn’t like him – which is true – and that makes his desperate personality more understandable. Olav has never let on to anyone that Eirik is not his biological child. Even to himself, he accepts Eirik as his son. But there is also the question of his natural son, Bjorn, born to Torhilde, the woman who was once the housekeeper of the estate. Bjorn is a beautiful boy and Olav wishes he could have more to do with him than he does.

Basically, Olav is a hot mess. He’s always been a deeply religious man, but he’s oppressed by the weight of his sins and wallows in conflicted feelings of unworthiness. He is deeply connected to his estate, but is bored by it. He mourns Ingunn, but still feels attracted to Torhilde. He leaves Hestviken for a short commercial voyage to London, during which he nearly sleeps with a very young married woman who reminds him of Ingunn. He has a religious experience and seriously considers becoming a monk. Yet throughout, he is incapable of making a significant change in his life and continues muddling along.

Eventually, war comes to his corner of the world and he sets off to take part. This reminds him of his soldiering days in his youth. He exhilarates in battle. He’s severely wounded. Good men are lost, but he survives and returns home. One expects that the clarity he felt in battle will not remain in peacetime, and he will return to his indecisiveness and wallowing.

It’s difficult to explain why this book is so compelling. Olav is not a particularly admirable character. In many ways, he’s rather weak. Still, the author gives such a convincing portrait of a medieval Norwegian “everyman” that I’m hooked. There is one more part to this quartet. I’m anxious to see how Olav’s story ends.

I think it was very ambitious of me to pick up this book. It sounds fantastic and the writing was great (Which can be difficult when embarking on a translation). Unfortunately, I think it would have been easier to get into if it had been the first in the series. I can say that based on what I've read, I will for sure be picking up the first as soon as I can get my hands on it.

There is a tonal shift from second volume as we now navigate Olav's role as the master of his ancestral home. He struggles from the sin of murder, and the negative impact of his guilt creates havoc in his psyche. Undset delivers a gloomy world that's actually quite beautiful to read and perhaps works as an antithesis to Olav's personal struggle.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Press for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Part 3 of 4 of Nunnally’s new translation of Undset’s Olav stories. I read Kristin Lavransdatter on a whim and it quickly scaled to the top of my all time favorites, and I am hoping this series rivals it. Nunnally again provides a readable and beautiful translation so us English readers have the opportunity to dive into this world and I eagerly await volume 4.

ARC provided

Having had a bit of a slump with book two, Crossroads revived my interest in the story. I found it more entertaining than the last volume and began to engage with the characters once again, and when I turned the final page I was keen to see how things would end in the fourth volume. I still think Kristin Lavransdatter is a better work overall, but I would also recommend the Olav Audunssøn series to fans of medieval historical fiction. It gets four stars from me.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Third in series, the focus is mostly on Olav and his life during the years after the death of his wife, Ingunn. Although the history was interesting and I was googling for facts, I didn't find the overall story as captivating.

3☆

I’m really enjoying Tiina Nunnally’s new English translations of Sigrid Undset’s The Master of Hestviken (originally published in 1927), and this third of the series’ four volumes set in 14th century Norway — Crossroads — sees Olav Audunssøn continue his struggle to reconcile his conflicting duties to traditional ways and to the Church. Piling on grief to guilt, Olav trudges through his life as the Master of his allodial estate — denying himself creature comforts and the salve of the sacraments — and despite his ersatz son and heir, Eirich, becoming a laughingstock in the community, Olav is too consumed by the past to worry about the future, or for that matter, the necessities of the present. Once again, Undset flawlessly employs Olav’s struggles to demonstrate the time and place, and this time around, Olav is beset by spirits and visions as he attempts to find meaning at midlife in what has been an existence made more challenging by his own burdened conscience. As the title implies, Olav finds himself at a crossroads in this volume, and the path he ends up choosing was both surprising and satisfying for me. This series is a fascinating epic of mediaeval Norway and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.