Witches' Rings (Series B (Norvik Press)) Paperback – November 15, 1997

There is no disputing Kerstin Ekman's reputation as an author of note. I am happy to see Witches' Rings available in English. On the whole, I appreciate Linda Schenk's translation, although, there are times when I did wonder whether Ms. Schenk understood what it was that she was translating. (The "witches' rings" of the title are what I always understood to be "fairy rings" those circles if mushrooms one should not cross.)This novel is set in a rural area - not even yet a town - transformed into a city by the railroad in 1870. Ekman ably captures the dizzying transformations of Swedish rural life in the 19th century. The novel at first seems awkward, and disjointed, but like a steam locomotive it gradually builds speed and momentum until at the end the "ticking clock" accelerates the final scenes. The book describes the nearly forty years of the lives of the Edla and her daughter Tora. Tora is a tough survivor who does not cry, because she is saving her tears for the time when she really needs them. When finally she does cry, we do not know whether she is crying for the dead or for herself and for those of us who survive in this modern world where the clock is always ticking.Americans with Swedish ancestry will find this novel explains a great deal about the circumstances that brought their families to consider migration.It's almost too easy to compare Ekman with Lagerlöf. Both have written tellingly about nineteenth century Swedish life. Certainly, this book brings into plain view what is found between the lines in Lagerlöf's writing.

Just a note from the translator in reaction to the published customer review -- the "witches' rings" of the title are rings trampled in the grass by mating deer, and allude to the way people spend their lives running around in circles, unsure of what they want or how to obtain it, as the character who sees them observes that the deer are doing.