Amazon offered a selection of foreign books for Kindle for $.99 apiece. I certainly couldn't resist an offer like that.
This is set in fourteenth or fifteenth century Iceland, there is a distinct time reference given with mention of Joan of Arc. The setting is not as distinctive as I had rather hoped and the main character, Ragna, never seems to completely gel. She is a victim of circumstances and the position of women in the time and place - no she isn't, she is strong minded and stands up to men in positions of power - but she can't resist her former fiance (who dumped her because she was pregnant by a rescued English sailor) - she resents his other women and bastards - she revers him because he is now a priest. Go figure.
It kept me reading, but I am wondering at this point if the flaws are those of the book or the translation. The translation certainly left something to be desired. There were a fair number of idiomatic problems and some really jarring incorrect word choices.
I haven't decided if the main plot was the fragmented life of Ragna and her bastard son, Michael, or if it was the chaos in the small country occasioned by the increasing role taken in their government, religion, and economy by the English. Neither seems particularly complete. The italicized passages of Ragna's stream of consciousness do not seem to move the plot along in any way - but maybe it is stronger in the original language.
It was interesting, but not a "must read."
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