Alberta and Jacob
By Cora Sandel
Alberta and Jacob (1926), the first volume of the trilogy, introduces Alberta Selmer, one of the 20th century’s great anti-heroines: Imaginative and intelligent, trapped in a…
Description
Alberta and Jacob (1926), the first volume of the trilogy, introduces Alberta Selmer, one of the 20th century’s great anti-heroines: Imaginative and intelligent, trapped in a stiflingly provincial town in the north of Norway, she is a misfit whose only affinity is for her extrovert brother Jacob. Her mother makes no attempt to conceal her disappointment at her daughter's social failings, and Alberta is desperate to get away. When Jacob escapes to a life at sea, Alberta's rebellion, though muted and ineffectual, begins to grow.
Cora Sandel’s books about Alberta thematize longing for freedom and a woman’s yearning to carve out a room of her own in the early 20th century. The trilogy has remained one of the most powerful and vivid portrayals of a woman in World literature. Through their resounding humanity, the books belong amongst the great, timeless classics. One of their greatest qualities are how they invite immersion. Through almost a century, countless readers have identified themselves with Alberta.
Praise
A masterpiece . . . it reads magnificently well . . . Above all, the whole book has an old-fashioned solidity, a quality of standing up and ringing true which sorts out good novels from bad quicker than anything else.
Observer, UK[This] is a masterpiece... As a writer, Miss Sandel is Maugham's superior. She has not his gift of irony, but her emotional depth is far greater... Miss Sandel is a stylist, a writer of marvelous delicacy...To read it is, in part, to relive the painful experience of growing human.
Saturday Review, USAThis is a magnificent work of introspection; few women could reveal themselves so completely with such a critical eye and with such understanding of human weakness...The trilogy is a moving story, a familiar classic in Norwegian literature, and a prize to be translated for the American public.
Library Journal, USAShe has a place to herself among the finest contemporary writing.
Guardian, UK
