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This 1909 novel is the first of Nobel Prize winning Sigrid Undset’s many historical novels. Unlike the other historical novels which were written in the 1920s, this novel is not part of a series. It is a 152-page novella with short crisp chapters, a total of 48 of them, making for a fast paced ever-changing yet still fluid reading experience. This is because, as usual, Undset's writing is clear, fluent and descriptive but without needless details.

This novel is set in the end of the 11th century Norway. As in Undset’s other historical novels, religion plays a big part in the characters� lives as the then-current Norway ruler, King Olaf, has recently converted to Christianity and there is a nation-wide tension between worship of the traditional Norse gods and the King-sanctioned influx of Christianity. Undset's depiction of the effect of religion on the daily lives of her characters is one of the more fascinating aspects of her works to me. I find her depiction of religion to be objective and insightful.

The primary protagonist is the title character. Vigdis is the nearly 18-year-old daughter of Gunnar, a landowner at Vadim, a farm in a rural area northeast of Oslo. The secondary protagonist is Ljot, a 20-year-old Iceland man who comes with his Uncle to trade with area landowners such as Gunnar and soon becomes Vigdis� suitor.

Most of the story centers on Vigdis and is set in the rural area near Vadim over several years. However, at times the story takes place in Iceland, with a short detour to Scotland, locales that provide pleasant diversions to the Norway locales. As I think the book is best read without knowing the plot details or spoilers contained in my back cover blurbs or GR depictions, I will refrain from describing them. I will say that the plot veers in some unexpected directions at times. I liked that it didn’t always follow the path I thought it would or wanted it to take.
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In Vigdis, Undset has created another of her strong and flawed protagonists that the reader roots for yet makes choices that have the reader wincing. Ljot is even more flawed and wince-inducing. I have always liked Undset’s complex and flawed ‘heroes.� They are memorable and their personalities make for intense, moving and, at times, sad life stories. They also feel very real to me even though I know nothing about 11th century Norway except what I learn from Undset. Undset manages to create an atmosphere of 11th century Norway so authentic that the reader feels they get a true sense of life at that place and time.

I find the writing, storytelling and historical portrait contained in this novel to be of high quality. However, the story almost has too many dramatic events for a novella, giving it almost a Norse or Icelandic saga feel. Some of the dramatic events could have been more deftly handled, a skill Undset later sufficiently perfected to achieve the excellent Kristin Lavransdatter. While this clearly rates somewhere between 4 and 5 stars, it felt closer to a 4-star reading experience to me