Crafts and Hobbies / Narrative Non-fiction2026 · 208 pp
In Sigrid Undset's Garden
Marit Brandtsegg / Kristin Brandtsegg Johansen
A story of creation, a love for nature, and shaping one's own world.
At Bjerkebæk, in the hills above Lillehammer, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset didn't just create great literature – she cultivated an extraordinary garden. Arriving in 1919 as a pregnant mother of two, she transformed a barren plot into a lush, vibrant sanctuary, fulfilling a lifelong dream. This living artwork, perhaps a muse for her writing Kristin Lavransdatter, mirrored her inner life.
In Sigrid Undset's Garden takes you into this dream world, exploring how she sowed, and shaped her personal idyll, revealing the profound connection between the garden and her literary genius.
As Undset herself wrote in 1925, "I love this old house unspeakably... In summer, when the delphiniums bloomed... it was a joy to wake every morning and look out."
