Maternités de Sigrid Undset, prix Nobel de littérature, plonge au cœur des contradictions et des sacrifices de la condition maternelle.

Originally published in Norwegian in 1927, this translation by Arthur G. Chater first published in 1929, public domain. It is Norway in the thirteenth century, a land rent by unremitting warfare and feebly lit by Christianity. Olav Audunsson was once an outlaw; now he is a man of wealth and stature. But he is haunted by the memory of crimes for which there is no easy atonement... In the third volume of her medieval epic, Sigrid Undset plunges readers into a world that is at once profoundly alien yet inhabited by men and women as recognizable as our own kin. Heartbroken by the death of his wife and estranged from a son who may not be his, Olav leaves Hestviken on a journey of adventure, temptation, and remorse that leads him to a bloody reckoning at the gates of Oslo. Vividly, poignantly, and with the fierce grandeur of a Norse folktale, ''In the Wilderness'' portrays the terrible conflicts of a man who is both sinner and penitent in an age that lies on the cusp of savagery and faith.

First published in the US by Alfred A. Knopf in 1928 in this English translation by A. G. Chater, now public domain. Set in 13th-century Norway, The Axe is the first volume in Undset's epic tetralogy, The Master of Hestviken. In it, we meet Olav Audunsson and Ingunn Steinfinnsdatter, who were betrothed as children and raised as brother and sister. In the heedlessness of youth, they become lovers, unaware that their ardor will forge the first link in a chain of murder, exile, and disgrace. Undset's novel is also a meticulous re-creation of a world split between pagan codes of retribution and the rigors of Christian piety--a world where law is a fragile new invention and manslaughter is so common that it's punishable by a fine." Undset reproduces medieval Norway in all the rich pageantry of color and form...she can transport us eight centuries and several thousand miles more effectively than most writers can take us into the house next door."--The Nation

Originally published in Norwegian in 1920, this first 1923 English translation was by C. Archer and J. S. Scott, now public domain. Kristin Lavransdatter is the daughter of Lavrans, a charismatic, respected nobleman in a rural area of Norway, and his wife Ragnfrid, who suffers from depression after the loss of three infant sons and the crippling of her younger daughter Ulvhild in an accident. Raised in a loving and devoutly religious family, Kristin develops a sensitive but wilful character, defying her family in small and large ways. At an early age, she is exposed to various tragedies. After an attempted rape raises questions about her reputation, she is sent to  Nonneseter Abbey, Oslo, a  Benedictine nunnery, which proves to be a turning point in her life. Despite being betrothed to a neighboring landowner's son, Simon Darre, Kristin falls in love with someone else, but how will this dangerous romance develop?

Sigrid Undset's Catherine of Siena was critically acclaimed as one of the best biographies of this well-known and amazing fourteenth-century saint. Known for her historical fiction, which won her the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928, Undset based this factual work on primary sources about Catherine of Siena, her own experiences living in Italy, and her profound understanding of the human heart.

Plongez dans l'un des discours les plus marquants de 1848 : Une seule Chambre de Lamartine. Ce texte historique, prononcé à l'Assemblée nationale, révèle les enjeux politiques et sociaux de la Seconde République.