However, the same night, Ursa learns from Absalom that Maren has also been accused of witchcraft. Kirsten is burned at the stake.ĭistraught, Ursa comforts Maren, and the two women consummate their love. During her trial, Kirsten refuses to name any accomplices. When her body bobs back up, they determine that she is a witch. To test her status as a witch, the authorities tie Kirsten up and throw her into the sea. Kirsten refuses to confess to the accusations against her, which include causing the storm that killed the men of Vardø. Absalom secures his power by becoming the first commissioner to bring two Norwegian women to trial for witchcraft. All the women but Ursa and Maren turn against her. Two pious women accuse Kirsten and another woman of being witches. Maren’s sister-in-law, Diinna, is of the Sámi people, whom Absalom and his fellow commissioners have systematically executed for sorcery and witchcraft. The other women in Vardø must navigate the new tension Absalom’s presence creates. Maren helps Ursa learn how to keep house for a husband, and the two women soon feel a deep bond. While Absalom scrutinizes the religious piety of the women in Vardø, Ursa develops a friendship with Maren. He brings with him his new wife, Ursa, whose arranged marriage has torn her away from her beloved sister. A Scottish commissioner named Absalom Cornet is sent to the community to oversee its religious conversion.
As the women grieve and work hard, a new king appoints government leaders for their region. Maren worries about the future and about the frayed relationship between her mother and sister-in-law.
Maren, a young woman from the community, watches as a woman named Kirsten takes the lead. The women work hard to rebuild their community, though they have never had to do men’s work before. In 1618, a small Norwegian seaside community is turned upside down when all the able-bodied men die at sea.
0 kommentar(er)
