The Bell in the Lake

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3 September 2022 - Santiago de Compostela

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Lars Mytting's book, The Bell in the Lake, is an absolute masterpiece. It chronicles the taking of a stave church from Norway to the Germany (something that actually happened), but its fictionalized account includes a lot more depth and details. While on the one hand it's beautiful, on the other hand it's terrible. Reading the story brought back all the pain of my own suffering with the loss of the two children with Ane. The parts of the end in Christiana were really too much. I felt like I was back in that bleak October two years ago when she was in the hospital (I couldn't be there because of Covid) and alone I receded in pain. Which is not to say you shouldn't read the book, just be prepared for what you're getting into.

Hardship is easier to better than sorrow.