The Grandmother

“An old countrywoman leaves her mountain village to live with her daughter's family at the Old Bleachery, a lonely house in a green valley beneath a princess's castle. Through one turning year — its feasts and fairs, its floods and storms, the mill, the gamekeeper's lodge, a pilgrimage, a wedding — her wisdom, kindness and stories shape the lives of her grandchildren and her neighbours, and touch even the princess, the sad young countess, the lovers Kristla and Míla, and poor mad Viktorka of the woods.”