Hello and welcome to Classical Stuff You Can Know, a podcast about books and ideas and philosophy. And today, as always, I'm joined by Graham Donaldson and AJ Hanenberg. That's me. And today, I guess it's something of a deal.
So we're going to get three books for the price of one episode. Is it three books or is it one just Google book? So just, you know, listeners can't see this. I'm looking toward you, Graham, and in front of you are, in fact, three books.
That's right. So I believe. I guess we can call it today as three books. Today, yeah, we're talking about something that I've maybe referenced before.
First of all, AJ, what's with a blankie? AJ is wearing a blanket. Where'd you get that blanket? It's like quilted.
My aunt made this too. Yeah, we are doing... Kristen Laverne's Daughter? Kristen Laverne's Daughter.
So it is a book... Wait, Laverne's Daughter is a name, not like Laverne's Daughter? It ends up being her last name. And her father is Laverne's.
So she's Laverne's Daughter. If she had a brother, he would be Laverne's son. So this is sort of the Norwegian naming, you know, ways. These books are good?
These books are wonderful. I'm sorry. I forget if it's been in the in-betweener if I said on the episode. I turned on the audiobook for this years and years ago, and my wife fell asleep almost immediately, and so we swapped it out.
It is. There's a high bar of entry just on the names of the characters, and a high bar of entry because this book is written in 1920, and it's set in 14th century Norway, and the characters talk like it. Okay. I troth.
Do you have to learn Norwegian? No, you sort of... You've got to have to get... There'll be a section...
I'll read a section that comes at the end of the book, and you'll get a feel for the language of it. Now, I don't know... I think Kristen Laverne's Daughter is a wonderful book. So let me just give you the brief synopsis.
It is a book that is the entirety of a human person's life. So Kristen, she is the daughter of a noble man, like noble in terms of being part of the gentry, but is not very wealthy. He runs basically a farm in the countryside, and like the boonies of Norway. That's Labyrinth.
That's Labyrinth. That's her father. And so the book runs from like little baby toddler Kristen to an old woman when she dies. And that's not a spoiler.
Spoiler. Because you sort of realize you're going to get the sense, oh, I'm going to get the whole life of this person in this book, and you sort of realize that this is going to be a whole person's life. I will say that to talk about, you know, there is going to be spoilers in this book. It's about...
The book is a thousand pages long, so there's no way that I'm going to cover everything. And because it's like the entire span of a person's life, I found a hard time when I read it, knowing what was going to be like a really important thing that was going to come out later in her life and what wasn't. Because all the time there would be like, you know, my son had a bad dream, and he told me the dream, and he told me this dream. And I'd be like, ooh, dream, that sounds important.
And it would never come up again. And then I went on just before the podcast just to see what people were saying in their own chapter summaries. And even in the chapter summaries, they were making references to things as if they were important that I was like, oh, I didn't think that was an important part of the plot of the story. But this person who wrote the summary must have thought so.
So it is... The book is like just filled with this person's life, and anything that could happen in life, you know, is there. Like, a good man. In fact, he may be one of my new most favorite characters in all of literature.
Leverens, I can't remember his last name. Oh, Bjorgelsen. His dad's name was Bjorgolf. That's a great name.
Yeah. So Leverens Bjorgelsen is just a... He's wonderful. He is pious.
He is a warrior. He is just a... He's a girl dad, so he doesn't have any sons, and he just loves his daughters. He is good to his peasants.
He's quiet. But he drinks, and when he drinks, he gets... He's merry. And he, like, drinks too much.
He's like, why should I drink so much, but I love everything? And then when he's sober, he's quiet. You know, he's just a wonderful, wonderful person, and just adores Kristen, his oldest daughter. Kristen's mother is named Rangfrid, and Rangfrid is depressed.
Rangfrid has had a number of male sons who have died young, or died in the womb, and then you pretty quickly realize that Rangfrid respects Leverens, and has a kind of love for him, but that their marriage is not a happy one. In terms of, like, their marriage is not... It is one that works, and it's one that was arranged, and it was one that was, like, on paper. Awesome.
Yep. He's a good guy, and this is going to work, you know, and you're going to have a good life, and you're going to have a respectful life, and people are going to respect you, but you realize pretty soon on that Rangfrid and Rangfrid and Leverens are not, like, happy together. They're not dysfunctional. They're very, very functional, and there's a tremendous amount of respect, and there's a love for each other, but it is a love that has been born out of, we've both done our duty in this life, as opposed to, like, my heart burns for you.
Can we find out if there's some reason for you? You can do it later. But it's pretty early that you can tell this sort of stuff in the book. Kristen is beautiful.
The... How can I say it? There's a sort of, like, the way that the author... So, like I said, it was written in 1920s, the author, her name is...
Sigurd Unsett. Kristen is beautiful, and there's this, like, fear that can be generated in the story of just, like, an une... There's just... I had...
The first book, I had this, like, unsettled anxiety when I read the book, because you just got the sense that you had this... That Kristen was this, like, beautiful person who could elicit desire in lots of people around her, and you were just worried for her. Does that make sense? Like, like a Helen of Troy.
Like, there was just a beauty and an innocence of her, and she's, like, she's smart, she's with it. Everybody knows that's going to be a wonderful woman when she grows up, that you just get this fear of that she is going to be... That a desire of men around her is going to, like, consume her. It's going to be a problem.
And you get that real early in the book. Not real early, but you sort of... As the book goes on, you sort of realize, like, that's a terrifying thing. Labyrinth is protective.
Okay. I would say that this book... I think it's a Christian masterpiece, honestly. I think it is a book that...
Yeah, I mean, the section that I kind of want to read is the highlight at the end. I think it's just... Yeah, I think the book is... I don't know if I love it, because as I'm reading it, it's, like, you just end up thinking about, like, life and your life and the relationships that you have, and what it means to live, like, a full human life and decisions you make when you're young and older.
I don't know if I like it because of just, like, personal self-reflection or because of the book itself, but it's one of those books that I think drives people to be reflective of just life. The other... The things that I kind of wanted to bring out... So I'm a man.
Spoiler. Thank you. Okay, cool. And so...
Okay, I'm tracking. So this is a book written by a woman, and there's... So Catherine, who we work with at school, a friend of the podcast, and long-time listeners will have heard her voice on, like, episodes. I was going to say, she was the only real, like, guest.
Yes, right. We had other guest people we interviewed, but she was, like, a tryout as, like, a... She led an episode. Back then, she was a peer.
Now, she is our boss. And Landerling. And you're also Landerling, in some ways. Anyway, she was talking about it because she's like, oh, I've always heard about that book.
What did you love about it? And the only thing I could think of was, like, this book, along with Jane Austen, have been the two books that have made me think the most about life from the perspective of being female. Like, life from a woman's perspective. And the thing that...
Maybe I'll float a little spoiler for the kind of conversation I want to have in the in-between is I want to compare the, like, fullness of the Kristen Laverne's daughter character to, like, the shallowness of Elizabeth in Frankenstein. So, if you're interested in the in-between, that's kind of where I want to go with that. But anyway. So, it's Kristen Laverne's daughter.
She's very young. Laverne loves her. And there are no brothers. So, she is, you know, the eldest.
She has a sister named Ramborg. I know, poor girl. And she's Ramborg. And then she also has another...
Oh, gosh. Another sister whose name I can't remember right now. Who is just... Oveild?
Oveild. Oveild. What is this? Oveild.
So, there's Ramborg and Oveild. Yeah. These are no-muching names. And Kristen.
Oh, I'm sorry. So, we listened to your last episode with all those funky names? Yeah. And Kristen.
Yeah. We just feel like Kristen got the good ones. Renfred, Oveild, Oveild, Ramborg. Yeah.
Ramborg is not a strong name. Oh, Ramborg sounds like a metal band. Yeah. It does.
Ramborg. You're singing Rammstein. I'm singing Rammstein. So, the story goes that when, you know, Kristen is...
She's growing up. When she's 13 or 14 years old, one of the young wards who lives at the farm, whose name is Arn Gertsen. His first name is Arn. She's grown up with him like a brother.
And they love each other. Actually, you know, Kristen, he loves her. And Kristen's kind of oblivious to love and boys. But he is so taken with her and protective of her and loves her.
And he just knows, I'm never going to marry her. She's a noble girl and I'm a farm boy. It's never going to happen. But he just loves her.
And there's one day that Kristen and Arn are on a walk somewhere. And Arn has to leave. He's like, see you later, Kristen. He goes off to where he's going.
And Kristen is accosted by a priest in training. And he attempts to assault her and force his way upon her. And she fights him off. The author does a really great job in that, like, it's really...
You as a reader don't really know what's going on because it's from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl. And it's sort of, like, written as such. You don't really know. It's, like, really hard to understand what's going on.
But she fights off this boy. And he runs off. And she bonks him in the head with a rock. And he runs off.
And she is, like, ashamed and embarrassed and doesn't tell her parents. And I think she actually ends up telling the mother of the boy who accosted her. And the mother's like, oh, well, let's just not talk about this. Right kind of thing.
And... But it all... But so... But then Arn, the farm boy, finds out about Kristen getting assaulted.
He goes and attacks the priest in training. And the priest in training kills Arn. Oh, no. And so Arn, the farm boy, is killed.
And then when that happens, the whole... He sounded like a good chap. I know. He was a great chap.
And then the whole story comes out. And then there's this scene where Kristen is coming in to see the body of Arn. And the mother... Arn's mother is there.
And basically accuses Kristen of, like, oh, you know, you were happy. She's, like, kiss the body of my son. And Kristen doesn't want to. He's, like, oh, you were happy to kiss him when he was alive.
And now you're not happy to kiss him when he's dead. And Kristen's, like, I can never kiss him. And then the dad is sitting there being, like, woman, you are in grief. Like, leave my daughter alone.
And there's this whole kerfuffle in town. And Kristen is sent away to a monastery just to have things cool down. Okay. So she goes off to this monastery, and she doesn't know what's what.
But, again, you sort of get the sense of here is Kristen, who, like, elicits desire in people that she doesn't understand and other people can't control. And I think that is a reality of maybe womanhood that I've never thought about, just as a man, which I think that's a whole other issue. Did she send to the monastery to become a nun? No, no.
She sent to the monastery just basically to, like, to go and pray and prepare for her marriage. Because in the meantime, dad has found her a suitable man named Simon. Simon Dar. He's known as Simon Dare.
Or he's known as Simon Andreessen, because his father's name is Andreessen. So he's Simon Dare. I think he's from that region. But he's also Simon Andreessen.
And he is kind of a schlub. He is, so, you know, when later on you find out that he's actually a wonderful, wonderful person. But as, like, a 14-year-old, 16-year-old, 17-year-old boy, Kristen's like, so what do you like? He's like, I like horses.
And she's like, mm-hmm. And she's like, you're like romantic. And she's, like, asking him questions. He wants a little fire from him.
And he's like, I like horses. I like farming. I'm really into, you know, and he's just, like, naming all the boy things that he likes. And there is no chemistry.
And for a 14-year-old girl, this is traumatic. Kristen wants some fire. She wants some passion. And Simon is, like, you know, a station wagon, right?
No passion. And Simon, of course, is in love with her from the moment he sees her. You know, she's got golden hair. She is beautiful.
She is very competent. She is very smart. As she's growing up, she ends up becoming, like, a healing woman. Like, she gets taught in the healing arts by this woman named Asahild Gunasdother.
And Asahild has kind of this weird checkered past where we think there's rumors that she murdered her husband with poison to marry this person that she loves. And those rumors persisted so much that she had to leave her high-society court life. And her and her husband, who was once her lover, once she had her first dead husband, are now, like, moving to the countryside just to get away from the rumors. And Asahild teaches Kristen some of the arts of healing.
And this makes the men folk a little nervous because it's, like, you know, healing and witchery and, like, that kind of stuff is too closely linked. And Asahild is super cool with teaching Kristen the, like, Christian arts of healing. But she's also kind of cool with teaching Kristen the, like, pagan arts of healing that involve other, like, the pagan ways. And Labyrinth is not cool with this.
And Kristen is sort of learning all of this. And Asahild is, like, the cool aunt who's from the city, who has a past, and is, like, telling Kristen about passion and love. And here's this woman that everyone thinks murdered her husband because she was so in love with this guy. And now they're living this, like, fabulous life off in the country.
And Kristen thinks she's awesome. And anyway. So Kristen has learned all this. Dad's, like, you're going to the monastery just to, like, let things settle down.
And also, like, pray for Arne because he died. And just, you know, spend a year getting your head on straight before you get married is what the plan is. So she knows she's going to marry Simon before she goes to the monastery. Correct.
And she is not all that thrilled with Simon because he's, like, kind of overweight. He's kind of like a puffy kid. And he's from a really great family. But it's, like, he's not sexy.
Right? Like, he's from a great family, but he's, like, from a great family in, I don't know, like, Missouri. You know, he's not from New York City. He's, you know, he's just.
He's what you call phlegmatic. Yeah. But he's a little phlegmatic. But he just doesn't.
He's just never really, like, had to charm or talk to a girl before. So she's, like, what do you like? He's, like, I like horses. I really love a great dagger.
And she's, like, okay. Okay. So she's not cool with it. Yeah.
So she goes off to the monastery and loves it. She loves the monastery while she's there. And she has positive experiences with the nuns. And she, there's a monk that she befriends.
And his name is, ooh, what's his name? I can't remember. But. Brother Edmund?
Brother Edmund. That's him. So her and Brother Edmund, he is just, like, this ray of Christian sunshine. And he takes a shining to Kristen.
And he hears all of her, you know, things, all of her story. And he just, like, inspires her and calls her to a higher life of Christian piety. And she does it. So much so that she thinks about.
And she's, like, oh, man, the other side of this is, like, dopey Simon. And then so she's, like, maybe I should be a nun. And maybe I should take up this life of being a nun. And my sister Ramborg, when she's old enough, can marry Simon.
Because Ramborg would love Simon. Because Ramborg's, like, seven years old and thinks Simon's kind of great. And Kristen is 16 and Simon is, you know, 20 or whatever. Or maybe even older.
I can't know. And so Kristen's, like, so she's sort of thinking of this idea of going into the monastery. Now, this opens up kind of a major theme throughout the story. And that major theme is, I want to realize I'm 20 minutes in of my, like, preliminary summary.
This is probably going to be maybe multiple episodes. You have three volumes. I know, I know. But Kristen, one of the major themes of the book is there are two worlds that exist in our life, in our terrestrial existence.
And there is a world of man where... And it is ruled by our passions and violence and where when we take control of it, we can get consequences that we didn't necessarily intend. And that's the world of man. It's messy.
And there are people desire things and the things that you desire, you're not necessarily going to get. And there can be resentment and there can be pain and there can be suffering. And there's also passion and there's love and there's like the world of man. And then there's the option of dedicating your life to God and quitting the world and going to the monasteries.
And for Kristen, the draw of just quitting the world, of just being like, I'm out, I'm out, and I don't want any part of this. And there's a tremendous amount of love and respect for everybody who does this is really attractive to her. Or she's like, why put myself through all of the misery that can come with marrying Simon who I don't want to marry? And why?
And if like really my life is just to marry this guy, kind of be miserable like my mom and have a bunch of boys and like run the farm? Or because of this experience that she's had with Brother Edvin, she's like, all right, I can dedicate myself to being the bride of Christ. I can dedicate myself to being this nun. And she's got these healing arts.
And so the nuns are like, you're super useful. And so that is such an attractive option to her. And she's really contemplating this. All right.
So she's kind of at the nunnery with this other girl who's probably there for like some other reason. Just need to get her out of town because she's kind of way crazy at home. So she becomes friends with this girl who's not a major character. But her and this girl are going for a walk one day.
And there was like a circus in town, I think, and a bunch of leopards were at the circus. And people were like, hey, you got to be real careful. There's leopards out there. And the girls kind of get freaked out.
And they run to the woods thinking they're being chased by leopards. And then they get lost. And when they get to the woods, they see a bunch of like German merchants or who they think are German merchants. They speak German and they're foreigners.
And they're like, oh, thank goodness. Men, help us. And they go up to them. And they're like, can you help us?
And these guys are like, oh, we'll help you. And so they basically, Kristen realizes much sooner than the other girl. And then Kristen, who has been assaulted before, realizes like, we got to get out of here. There's nothing they can do.
Sort of at the moment where it's going to be made apparent that they are going to be doing harm to these girls, a gentleman rides in with his sword drawn on his horse and saves them. Oh, hallelujah. And he comes in. And he is handsome.
And his name is Erland Nicholson. Or Nicholson. Nicholson. I don't know how to pronounce it.
His name is Erland. And he is handsome. And he is, as we're going to find out, he is mirthful and jovial. He has a twinkle in his eye.
He is a rascal. And he is a very complicated man. But he is just, in many ways, he is a delight. He is the life of the room.
Any room he goes into, everyone's like, Erland is bringing the party. He is jovial. He is unserious in all of his affairs, but he understands the severity of everything. Do you kind of get what I mean?
So he knows what's going on, but he is so good-natured that he kind of gives off bro vibes. But in reality, he is super shrewd. And he's also a massive ladies' man. So this is Erland.
Up until that, I was going to say, this sounds like everything I've been striving to be my whole life. And then a massive ladies' man. Is he around the same age? So no, Erland is much older.
He's probably in his late 20s, I think. And he comes in, he saves the girls. And Kristen is full-on awubajakus. Just cartoon heart eyes out of her head, right?
She knows him because he is a big name. He's a knight. He's related to the king in some way. He is reckless and handsome.
Is he married? No, he's not married. No, he's not. Kristen falls in love with him, but she's not doing it.
She's 16. But he's saved her life. This is everything you've ever wanted in a storybook from a man. And they mention a lot that he wears his clothes really well.
And he's just, he is wonderful. Now, he's teasing and charming, and he teases and charms the girls right there. And the other boy-crazy girl is like, I'll marry that guy. And then Kristen is like, yeah, he's something.
And it's obvious that Erland sees Kristen and sees how beautiful she is. Okay. Kristen realizes that there have been rumors around Erland. It takes a long time for her to realize what has actually happened, because she just hears little swirlings and rumors.
But I'll tell you the actual thing that has happened. Erland, as a younger man, fell in love and had an affair with this woman who was married to an old, like, half-dead, like, doofus. She was married to this guy. It was like a pure marriage of money and convenience.
And he was like 30 years old, 40 years old. It's just bad news. And her name was, not Margaret. That's his daughter.
What's her name? I'm sorry. E-L-I-N-E? Yes.
E-L-I-N-E. I think that's how you pronounce it. E-L-I-N-E. So, yes.
Married. So, she's married to this guy. And Erland and her have a love affair. And old man dies.
And, um, is that correct? No, he may not be dead. They have a love affair. And she has two bastard children with Erland.
And she has a daughter named Margaret and a son named Orm. And so, has two bastard children. And because of it, Erland is excommunicated from the church. Oh, oh.
Yes. Big deal. Because he was having bastard children. And he's noble.
So, this isn't just like a peasant. So, this is like a big deal. And he lives in excommunication for a while. Because he was supposed to go and repent to the bishop.
And he's like, who has time for that? You know, he's like one of those guys. And he's like, you need to go to the bishop. You need to confess your sins.
You've been doing this terrible thing. And he's like, I'm busy. I'll do it later. I've got stuff to do.
I know the hunt is on. And so, he basically, the bishop gets so frustrated that they excommunicate him. And he can't take communion. And he's like, I guess I'll get my bread elsewhere.
Like, he's one of those guys, right? And so, you know, he's this rascal. So, this is what has happened. So, he's had these vassar children.
And he had promised Elim that he would marry her when her husband dies. So, his husband's still alive. But estranged and vassar children and his whole skin. Yeah, sure.
And he promised her that he would marry her when her husband dies. And she's off in the north. And Margaret and Orm are like, grown up without a dad. And Erlind is being a rascal.
And he's doing, he's on the king's errands. And he's like, being part of skirmishes. And he's fighting the Russians in the north. And he's coming back.
And now, he meets Kristen. So, he's not cool. Yeah. He's not an awesome person.
Yeah. He's not cool. He makes bad decisions. But the best part about this book is, like, people aren't good.
People aren't bad. There are people who make bad decisions. And they have really great characteristics. Kristen included.
Even though that she is a very attractive character in terms of her quality of character. There are things in her character. She has a central flaw. And that is holding grudges.
She quietly holds a grudge her entire life. And realizes how much poisonous it's done to her. Anyway. So, she has.
So, her and Erlind. He seeks her out at a party. And she is walking home from dinner one night. Back to the monastery.
And she sees him. And he is in sort of the darkness of the wall. And she comes towards him. And they embrace.
And she falls asleep with her head in his lap. And she wakes up in the morning. Still with her head in his lap. Nothing has happened apart from that.
And she and him look at each other. And she makes a vow to him. In her heart. Not out loud.
That she is going to love him forever. And then she basically realizes. We smooched. We spent the night together.
Not sexually. But we spent the night together. And she says. I'm bound to you.
And so, they basically make a vow to each other. They love each other. What about his vow to the other lady? Yeah.
It doesn't matter. He makes a lot of vows. He's making some vows. Yeah.
And so. I don't know. Just toss those things around. She's not like dollar bills.
I told you he was reckless. He made that vow too? It wasn't just Kristen to herself? He made that vow as well.
And then that was voiced. Or is he a polygamist maybe? No. And so the summer goes on.
And he eventually seduces Kristen. And takes her maiden of honor. Yeah. In a haystack.
And that continues all summer. A real roll in hay. A real roll in hay. And Kristen is.
Both absolutely enamored in love. And absolutely ashamed. And she wants. And she prays every day to the Virgin Mary.
That she does not bear a child. And she prayed. And she is like absolutely horrified. That that is a prayer she has to make.
Because of how grievous a sin this is. Yeah. And she loves him. Loves him.
And actually. Even a bit of a spoiler. He loves her. And his bond for Kristen.
His bond for Kristen forever for the rest of the book. Is true and strong in there. He's still a dope. And he's still a rascal.
And makes bad decisions. And he's going to make worse decisions in his life. But the bond and tie that he has to Kristen is real. Even though he's like.
Not going to. You know there's infidelities. So this is all Kristen still at the monastery? This is all Kristen still at the monastery.
She's a 16 year old. And he's like late 20s. That's also gross. But anyway.
So she's in love. And it gets worse. Where Erlin eventually is like. Listen.
I know this place where we can. We don't have to be in the hay. I know this place. I know this lady.
And we can like rent a room. And we can be together. And it's just like a brothel. It's even worse.
And so he gets his sort of right hand man. Whose name is Ulf. Okay. And he gets Ulf to be like this go-between.
And Ulf comes to the monastery and says. Hey I got a message. Kristen Laverne's daughter is supposed to come here. Her father wants her to talk to this guy in town.
And the nuns are like. Oh wonderful. Off you go Kristen. Ulf takes her to the brothel.
She goes up. And she spends the night with Erlin. And Simon finds out. Oh.
So. I was getting baby. Yeah. Simon finds out that this is happening.
And he comes. And he finds out about this. And he comes to the monastery. And he says.
What's going on? He's like. I'm your protector. Which he is.
Because they're engaged. And Kristen says. I love Erlin. And I don't want to marry you.
And Simon. So she says. Please break your vow to me of marriage. And break the vow to my father.
So that I can marry Erlin. And Simon has two options. He can say. Screw it.
We're doing it. It doesn't matter. I don't care what you feel. But he says.
Okay. And he does. And he goes to dad. And dad has.
Your dad has no idea. Simon goes to Laverne's. And says. Simon goes to Laverne's.
I cannot marry your daughter. And Laverne's says. And Simon says. I don't want to.
And it's off. He doesn't tell her. He doesn't tell Laverne's. And dad's like.
Okay. And then. Also. Simon actually went to the brothel.
And confronted them one night. And Simon and Erlin almost got in a fight. And almost killed each other. And Kristen had to stop it.
And then Simon. Well. Simon said. I will.
Basically like. I'm going to give you time to tell your father. And the only way that I'm going to not marry you. Is eventually you need to go and tell your dad what's going on.
And Kristen kind of says. Okay. And so Kristen goes to. No.
Goes to dad and says. I don't want to marry Simon. I want to marry Erlin. Laverne's is like.
Erlin. The one who has. Who has communicated to Erlin. The one who has bastard children with Elim.
The one who is like. Known to be a rake and a scoundrel. Into the entire nation of Norway. She's like.
Yes. I love him. And he loves me dad. And she's 16.
Right. And dad says. Nope. Not happening.
And mom. It's not happening. And Kristen basically. Dad has no idea about the affair.
Dad has no idea about sex. Dad has no idea about any of that. Just thinks that she's in love. And Simon is withdrawn.
Massive embarrassment. Massive scandal. Erlin tries to make little overtures to Laverne's to get it to happen. Erlin goes to the bishop.
And confesses his sin. And gets brought back into the Catholic church. So he can marry Kristen. He does it.
But it's winter. And he can't go see them. And Kristen is now back at home. And dad refuses it.
Mom comes to. So Rangford comes up to Laverne's and essentially says. Why won't you allow this marriage? And he's like.
Well she's like. I know I want to allow this marriage. But he said. Her love for Erlin may be stronger than her love for us.
And it may be stronger than her love for her own life. And Laverne goes. Meanwhile Kristen basically goes into like. Total emotional shutdown.
She doesn't eat. She doesn't sleep. She barely talks. She like goes to church.
And she sits at home. And she like stokes the fire. And she is just. She doesn't talk to her father.
She is just like emotionally shut down. She is basically like wasting away. She's sick. She has.
She gets feverish. And people are like. She might die. She might die of a broken heart.
Like she just has. Might have lost the will to live. And dad sees it all winter. It's like.
It's like one of the coldest longest darkest winters in Norway. And Kristen is just like fading as a person in the house. Because of her heart. At this point Kristen realizes that she is not pregnant.
In any of these things. And so that is a relief. But it's also like. How long was that a mystery?
Like all winter? No no. That's a point you got to figure out. Well you know three months into it you realize it's not happening.
But there's a point where she realizes she's not pregnant. And she is relieved. But how do you give thanks to God on Sunday for that? She's not confessing that sin to the priest.