Product Details

• Published on: 1968-12
• Binding: Paperback

Customer Reviews

Best book I ever read
This book is set in a small mining community in Norway. The (over)ambitious priest, Benjamin Sigismund, is sent to a desolate village in the mountains to take over the ministry.

On arriving, he is very negative to the people in his new parish, and longs for a post in more hospitable environments. There are few people there with whom he feels he "connects" on an intellectual level.

As time goes by, relationships develop, and Sigismund's attitude changes drastically, forcing him to make a choice between what his heart desires and what he knows is right.

In fear of saying too much, I shall not elaborate any further than saying that this is a book that gives great insight in the harsh life the people in this community were faced with. It is a tale of intense love, equally intense hatred, personal tragedy and bravery. A tale in which the author constantly comes back to the same basic moral dilemma.

Any lover of good literature should read this book, regretably, though, it is hard to come by in English.

Furthermore I should say that I read it in Norwegian, and so cannot comment on whether the translation does it justice.