The past few weeks, when I had the time, sandwiched between my day job as director of the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, and my “what’s left over time” felling and limbing up spruce trees in my backyard, making runs to the transfer station, repairing hinges on garden gates, and whatever else needs doing around the house, I read an extraordinary novel by Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset.

No, it wasn’t in Norwegian; I couldn’t manage that, but in a passable translation, if a bit archaic. There is a newer translation by Tiina Nunnally, which I would recommend, and which the library has in its collection.

The book is titled “Kristin Lavransdatter,” and is considered by most critics to be Undset’s finest literary achievement, which is saying something, because she wrote a number of outstanding novels. This is the tale of Kristin, the daughter of Lavrans, and is set in 14th century Norway, a place of uncommon wonder. Undset is unparalleled in her knowledge of this time and place, and the depth of description, from landscapes to historical customs, is such that one puts this book down truly enriched by the experience.

We follow Kristin from early childhood as she embarks on a trek with her beloved father into the Norwegian mountains to their summer pastures, through her romance and marriage to Erlend, a nobleman who pursues his own will no matter what. Her family opposes the marriage, particularly as it means rejecting the man her father has chosen to be her husband. It was interesting to learn that, although marriages were arranged in medieval Norway, the woman always had the freedom to say no.

In the end Kristin’s choices, which we follow into her old age, are choices made out of love; and this Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece of literature is a meditation of the different kinds of love she discovers throughout her life’s journey: filial, romantic, married and spiritual.

I hesitated writing a review about a classic written in 1927, but decided this long winter is the perfect time to pick up such a book and discover a time and place that is vastly different from our own, but peopled by characters so finely drawn we are deeply touched by their stories. I know someone who reads this novel almost yearly and now I understand why. If you have enough “left over time” you won’t regret this excursion into the life of Kristin Lavrandatter. Very highly recommended.