This book is a great escape read, especially when you want to travel but aren't able to. The vivid settings come
to life as our main character Ilse leaves Greenland to go to France and we tag along for the roller coaster of emotions that arise during her journey. Perfect summer reading!

I love novels set in Europe, and this one seems amazing!

From GR:
A woman leaves her coastal Greenland village to translate the works of an elderly Provençal poet and finds her life irrevocably changed in this tender and romantic novel set in a French village.

Ilse Lund is a translator who lives in a house on stilts along the west coast of Greenland. Isolated in her world by the sea, and restless, she convinces her publisher to pay for a trip to the country she has never visited but whose language she speaks fluently—France. Her to translate the verses of Geoffrey Labaye, an elderly poet known as “the last living troubadour of Provence.”

Upon arrival in the medieval hilltop village of Beau Rivière, Ilse falls under the spell of the Provençal way of life--and the charming French poet. She becomes captive to the air, the sun, the vibrant spring colors, and the dulcet sounds of the Provençal dialect. And soon enough, Ilse is captive to the poet, too, as she and Labaye develop a daily rhythm, about words and much else. Their warm camaraderie is disturbed, however, when the poet’s son Frey shows up. Though he has a fiancée back in Paris, Frey turns his attention on Ilse, and suddenly she is forced to learn another language, one her translation skills have not prepared her to decode. With whom and where does her future lie?

With an eye and ear attuned to the sensibilities of French life, Elizabeth Birkelund has created a love story about a woman forced to choose between the security of her quiet northern home and possibly the life of her dreams.

I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book. My review rating is based on the summary of this book.

So lovely. I really can't say enough about this book. The author's writing and her descriptions capture you and pull you into her beautiful story and you can actually feel Ilse's excitement on coming to France - it's palpable. The plot is very nicely written with well rounded characters. It's truly an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this bool. I loved the characters, the setting, and the character development. I felt like I was there with the descriptions of everything. I would recommend this book.

The story begins with lse Erlund, a native Greenlander of Inuit, English and Danish heritage, living in a small house on stilts along the sea cottage in Greenland north of the Artic Circle. It is extremely cold with frequent downpours and bitter winds. Ise dismisses the harsh weather whenever she is viewing the northern lights and rainbows, watching whales, or translating books from English to French or French to English. She receives praise for her work except from her Inuit relatives that consider her a traitor and risking the wrath of the Moon Man. Her parents worry that she will leave her village as soon as she has enough money to travel.

She is given an assignment to translate a collection of poems in just over 2 months. Ilse convinces her publisher to send her to Provence for two weeks so she can meet with the poet to better understand his feelings and thoughts. Needless to say, the south of France is a major culture shock for her.

I loved that the book is filled with poetry. The author does an excellent developing the characters and a surprise ending.

My thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

Hmm, this one was just not for me. I gave it 2 stars and I’m surprised I finished it.

A vague review: The writing in some places was beautiful, and in other places choppy and unsure. The characters weren’t developed enough to be likable. The plot was original but rushed and lacked feeling (other than some forced emotion).

A spoiler/specific review: wait what? Sure, I guess she was in love with Beluga the whole time, but that was a pretty uneventful and quick turnaround. Also pretty quick? Her falling for Frey. And him falling for her and everything that followed for him. The only thing that felt good was Ilse’s relationship with the Poet.

Reading about Greenland was pretty cool, but I just didn’t love this one. Didn’t even really like it. Sorry!

Ilse is a translator from Greenland who has always been enamored with France but has never been. Stuck and tried of the way her life is going she convinces her editor to send her to France to work with the author of her newest translation. I really liked the little glimpses into life in Greenland. It seems like such an unknown place and I've never read a book where this place is featured. I also loved the time we as readers get to spend in the French country side and wished I could walk through that tunnel. I like getting to see Ilse to come into her own. The ending did feel like a bit of a let down. Her world is a bit bigger now and it seems like she will get to travel more for work but I just felt like Greenland is not really a place where she has thrived for awhile now and I wanted better for her regardless of who she ended up with.

DNF @ 17%

I wanted to love this book. I expected something like Under the Tuscan Sun or The Memory of Lavender and Sage. Vibey, romantic, magical, etc. This was not that. I didn't even make it out of of the Greenland portion of the book.

I don't have any feelings towards the main character or any interest in seeing what happens. I felt like everything I read was very choppy and all over the place. There were also so many details about random things I don't think were necessary.

I hate DNFing books, but there are too many books to be read for me to continue on with something that is not interesting to me.

A woman in her thirties, living in Greenland, translates French books... however she has never actually been to France! Ilse is given the chance to translate the work of a renowned French poet, and in accepting the job, she finds herself headed to the French countryside to immerse herself in the words and life of the poet. Her time in France keeps getting extended and she comes to a point where she needs to make choices that will change her life forever.

A Northern Light in Provence was not a fast read for me, the pace felt quite slow, which I think works for the most part given it's a book about a woman translating poetry! Though I did enjoy it, it may not be for everyone. I'm thinking it should be recommended to the reader who can appreciate a slow read, poetry, and a story of finding ones self.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of a translator in Greenland who travels to France to work with a poet to translate his final works. While most people in Greenland speak English and Danish in addition to Greenlandic, Ilse is also fluent in French.

She takes a huge chance with her publisher and asks to be sent to France to work with the poet to better understand the nuance and subtlety of his words and the language. Much like in The Wizard of Oz, the world blooms into technicolor the moment Ilse arrives in Provence. She's surrounded by warmth and color and scents and flavors she's only read about.

The language and phrasing is just gorgeous. I loved Ilse's journey and how language and words and experience form and change her. This is a book to savor.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group | Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

A sweet story set in a small village in France. It ended up being a sweeter story than I thought it be.

This lyrically written book is truly unique in the author’s ability to paint such detailed pictures of the dual settings, as well as feature the depth of emotions of the main character. Ilse is a translator, living in Greenland, translating French books into Danish and English. When Ilse gets the opportunity to leave her cold, wet home to translate a famous poets work in the Luberon area of Provence, filled with warmth and color, Ilse jumps at the opportunity. The poet’s work is renowned, and Ilse becomes close to him as she tries to find words reflecting his troubadour style. I loved the book and highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Elizabeth Berklund's novel A Northern Light in Provence published last week, so I'm a little behind on posting this review. However, there's still time for you to purchase this book or check it out from your library before summer reading season!

The synopsis: Ilse lives in Greenland in a rickety old cottage by the sea where she works as a translator of novels. She can speak other languages, although she's never actually been to any of the places whose languages she speaks!

She's been translating a novel from French to English when her editor asks her to translate a book of poetry from Provencal to English. Ilse agrees and finds the courage to ask for a little more: money and a two-week trip to Provence in France to meet with the poet. It'll help her translations, after all.

And her editor agrees! So off Ilse goes, leaving behind rainy and cold Greenland for the beautiful flowers and sunshine in France.

How will meeting the poet influence Ilse's future? Will she find what or who she needs in France? Or will she make her way back to Greenland? You'll have to read the novel to find out!

Honestly, it took me awhile to get into this novel, and even once I did, I found a certain part of it to be predictable and underdeveloped. But in a way, it needed to be underdeveloped in order to make Ilse's final decision that much easier.

This novel will definitely satisfy your wanderlust, whether it makes you want to visit France or take a trip to Greenland! The author actually went to Greenland to research the novel!

Sad, beautiful, and romantic.

(Not, I think, a Romance.)

The love story here is really between the translator and her Poet – at times she wonders if its romantic or sexual, but ultimately decides its not – as well as the translator and Provence, and the translator and Greenland. Sure, there’s a love triangle of sorts between the translator and the poet’s son and her childhood best friend, but ultimately, that plot is secondary to the journey of self-discovery, exploration of words and food and wine, grief and memory, family and tradition. Come for the sun-drenched scenes of the translator and the Poet sitting beneath an olive tree in a Provençal vineyard, drinking Ricard and talking about the intimacies of language, stay for the homey pub on the wind-swept shores of Oqaatsut, where glaciers floating by are better than any TV could ever be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Quite possibly my first book of the year contender! Just wow. First, I was drawn into the life and land of Greenland where we first meet Ilse. She drew me into her world immediately. And I was along for the ride to France.
All of your senses are attuned when reading this novel. From the sound and smell of sea air. To the bustle of people and trains and scents coming from cafes. And don't even get me going on the pure excitement I felt on reading someone's quest for poetry.
I can't imagine the thrill of translating poetry in the French countryside---oh wait, I can! Because I read this novel and was there with Ilse. (by the way it is pronounced ill-see)
Being a poetry lover and knowing some French definitely made this a 10/10 reading experience for me. I can see where some people got a little lost or taken out of the story, but I didn't have that issue.

A lovely book! I've never read a book set in Greenland, so this was fascinating from the start. The main character is a young woman who works as a translator of French literature...even though she has never set foot in France. She gets her big chance to follow her dream of going to Provence and takes it with gusto. Assigned to learn the Provencal dialect, she works with a poet to learn the subtleties of the language and many other things. This was a charming book and wonderful for light, enjoyable reading.

Charming romantic story set in Greenland and France. Elizabeth Birkelund does a beautiful job of drawing you in to the majesty of these two wonderful locations. The enchanting story of the translator and the poet is magical. Can’t wait to read more from Elizabeth.

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Oh, I enjoyed this story so much! The story of Ilse from Greenland, a book translator of several languages, but primarily to/from the French ,was the 'perfect storm' of a story. Isolated in a little shack in Greenland,(fabulous descriptions of terrain and weather) recovering from the death of her beloved brother, she finally gets an editor to pay her way to France to help translate a book of poetry by Provence's "last living troubador". Oooh and when she gets to Provence it is everything she always dreamed it would be. I adore Provence and her descriptions bring home everything I love about it. Along the way there are love interests, potential love interests (make no mistake, this is NOT a romance novel, tho), wild weather, beautiful poetry and Ilse's personal conundrum about what to do with her life. The translation aspect is handled skillfully and is a fascinating part of the story on it's own. A beautiful story of two vastly different countries colliding.

The beauty in this book is in the extremes. For the cold dark and dreary Greenland to the warm bright and lively Provence. At first I wasn’t sure what book I picked up. But I fell in love with the book and Provence all over again. The poetry and love of the land and language made me feel like I was transported to the vineyards. This is a unique and lovely read.

This is a lovely, entertaining, romantic, thoughtful book about Ilse, a translator, who has lived all her life in Greenland. She has translated many books into several different languages, but has never left her homeland of Greenland.

Then, opportunity knocks -- Ilse loves the French language and is asked to travel to Provence to meet and work with a famous elderly poet who is coming out with a special edition of, what will turn out to be, his last book.

Ilse falls in love with Provence and its beautiful language. She also loves Po, the poet, and they develop a special relationship as she learns more about herself and what she wants out of life. Does she want to spend the rest of her life in cold, icy Greenland, or would a move to warm, colorful, soothing Provence be what she needs?

Then, Ilse meets Po’s son, Frey, which provides another set of questions for her to think about, and decisions must be made -- but which way will she decide to go?

This author does an excellent job of describing Greenland and its menacing weather and landscape, but the people are so warm and wonderful. They are her family. She does an equally gifted job of giving the reader the feeling of being in Provence and experiencing the sights and smells of the beautiful area. And the people Ilse meets are the beginning of a new family. She has a lot to think about!

I really enjoyed this one. The story was compelling, and the writing made me feel like I was “there,” experiencing whatever Ilse was experiencing, wherever she was. I highly recommend it!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Elizabeth Birkelund, and Ballantine Books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.