Karitas Untitled

Written by Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir

Narrated by Anita Briem

A portrait of an artist trapped by convention and expectations but longing for the chaos that can set her free.

Growing up on a farm in early twentieth-century rural Iceland, Karitas Jónsdóttir, one of six siblings, yearns for a new life. An artist, Karitas has a powerful calling and is determined to never let go of her true being, one unsuited for the conventional. But she is powerless against the fateful turns of real life and all its expectations of women. Pulled back time and again by design and by chance to the Icelandic countryside—as dutiful daughter, loving mother, and fisherman’s wife—she struggles to thrive, to be what she was meant to be.

Spanning decades and set against a breathtaking historical canvas, Karitas Untitled, an award-winning classic of Icelandic literature, is a complex and immersive portrait of an artist’s conflict with love, family, nature, and a country unaccustomed to an untraditional woman—but most of all, with herself and the creative instincts she has no choice but to follow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Translator: Philip Roughton
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713625636

Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir

Kristín Marja Baldursdóttir is one of Iceland’s most acclaimed writers and the internationally bestselling author of numerous novels, including Karitas Untitled, a Nordic Council Literature Prize nominee; Street of the Mothers; Chaos on Canvas; and Seagull’s Laughter, which was adapted for the stage and also into an award-winning film. She received her degree in 1991 from the University of Iceland and has also worked as a teacher and a journalist. Among Kristín Marja’s many honors are the Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon for her achievements in writing and her contributions to Icelandic literature, the Jónas Hallgrímsson Prize, and the Fjöruverðlaun Women’s Literature Prize. Kristín Marja lives in Reykjavík.

Reviews for Karitas Untitled

[birta_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Early 20th century rural Iceland and a the life of a woman. Wasn't a midwife like her sister, a lawyer like her brother; just an artist. Artists don't have titles. Her life unfolds in a positive direction as her talents as an artist get noticed and she has the opportunity to attend art school but then returns to her old life of poverty and adversity. There is no money in being an artist in an Icelandic fishing village or as the hired hand at a farm. It's a story of struggles with trying to express her passion, losing her grip on her sanity for a while, raising her children without help from her husband, living off the kindness of strangers and neighbours all the while waiting for the moment when she can break free and claiming her true title as an Artist.