Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of 2025!

Summary and Reviews of The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting

The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting

The Bell in the Lake

Sister Bells Trilogy #1

by Lars Mytting
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 29, 2020, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2022, 416 pages
  • Reviewed by BookBrowse Book Reviewed by:
    Rebecca Foster
  • Genres & Themes
  • Publication Information
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

The engrossing epic novel - a #1 bestseller in Norway - of a young woman whose fate plays out against her village's mystical church bells.

As long as people could remember, the stave church's bells had rung over the isolated village of Butangen, Norway. Cast in memory of conjoined twins, the bells are said to ring on their own in times of danger. In 1879, young pastor Kai Schweigaard moves to the village, where young Astrid Hekne yearns for a modern life. She sees a way out on the arm of the new pastor, who needs a tie to the community to cull favor for his plan for the old stave church, with its pagan deity effigies and supernatural bells. When the pastor makes a deal that brings an outsider, a sophisticated German architect, into their world, the village and Astrid are caught between past and future, as dark forces come into play.

Lars Mytting, bestselling author of Norwegian Wood, brings his deep knowledge of history, carpentry, fishing, and stave churches to this compelling historical novel, an international bestseller sold in 12 countries. With its broad-canvas narrative about the intersection of religion, superstition, and duty, The Bell in the Lake is an irresistible story of ancient times and modern challenges, by a powerful international voice.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Mytting constructs his novel around compelling dichotomies. Cutting-edge medical procedures versus limited village practices, Christianity versus superstition and male action versus female passivity are pairs of concepts the author gently dissects and subverts. As much as I enjoyed the book's themes, unique location and blend of genres, I did feel that the central love triangle led the plot into rather melodramatic territory. Still, in atmosphere, The Bell in the Lake is reminiscent of Danish author Carsten Jensen's We, the Drowned, another enthralling epic that combines history and legend in an inviting Scandinavian setting and one of my favorite novels...continued

Full Review (723 words)

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access, become a member today.

(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book



Stave Churches

Heddal Stave Church in Norway It's no secret that Lars Mytting loves trees. He wrote a novel titled The Sixteen Trees of the Somme (2017), and is known for his international bestseller Norwegian Wood (2015), a nonfiction guide to sources of firewood that gives instructions on how to chop, stack and cure wood for burning. With The Bell in the Lake, he continues with the subject of wood as material by delving into Norway's architectural history, specifically its famous stave churches.

While stone cathedrals were constructed elsewhere in the Middle Ages, in parts of northern Europe wood was the building material of choice. More than 1,000 stave churches were assembled in Norway, mostly in the 12th to 14th centuries. The name refers to the type of timber framing used...

This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Bell in the Lake, try these:

  • The Mercies jacket

    The Mercies

    by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

    Published 2021

    About this book

    After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this "perfectly told" 1600s parable of "a world gone mad" (Adriana Trigiani).

  • The Sacrament jacket

    The Sacrament

    by Olaf Olafsson

    Published 2020

    About this book

    More by this author

    The haunting, vivid story of a nun whose past returns to her in unexpected ways, all while investigating a mysterious death and a series of harrowing abuse claims.

Read-Alikes are one of the many benefits of membership. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Lars Mytting
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $50 for 12 months or $18 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Wager
    by David Grann
    From the bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Harlem Rhapsody
    by Victoria Christopher Murray

    The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance.

  • Book Jacket

    Three Days in June
    by Anne Tyler

    A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

  • Book Jacket

    Beast of the North Woods
    by Annelise Ryan

    When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.

Who Said...

Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

D to T N

and be entered to win..