Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marta Oulie | 1907 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 2 | Gunnar’s Daughter | 1909 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 3 | Jenny | 1911 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 4 | The Wild Orchid | 1929 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 5 | The Burning Bush | 1930 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 6 | Ida Elisabeth | 1932 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 7 | Madame Dorthea | 1939 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 8 | Catherine of Siena | 1951 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
| 9 | Saga of Saints | 1992 | Sigrid Undset | Buy |
Undset’s standalone novels show the full range of her interests across more than four decades of writing. Her earliest books, Marta Oulie and Jenny, are modern realist novels about women navigating work, marriage, and social expectations in early 20th-century Norway. Gunnar’s Daughter takes a different path, telling a fierce Viking-age story of revenge and honor.
Her later standalones shift toward religious subjects. The Wild Orchid and The Burning Bush form a loose pair about a modern man’s conversion to Catholicism. Catherine of Siena is a biographical study of the medieval saint, and Saga of Saints explores the lives of Scandinavian holy figures. Together these books trace Undset’s own intellectual journey from secular realism to Catholic conviction.