Summary

In Chapter 31, Asta Sollilja accompanied Bjartur to the coast to tend to business in the town of Fjord. They visited the merchant who commented that the 13-year-old Asta Sollilja would soon be old enough to get married, which Bjartur pushed back against on the grounds that she had not yet been confirmed. Bjartur took Asta Sollilja to a book-seller to buy some more classical Icelandic literature, but the title Bjartur wanted was out of print. The bookseller suggested a book named “The Secrets of Love, Wholesome Advice regarding the Union of Man and Woman” (230), a title which annoyed Bjartur and which Asta Sollilja did not understand.

Bjartur took Asta Sollilja to stay the night in a boarding house in a dormitory full of adult men, who criticized Bjartur for bringing a girl of Asta Sollilja’s age to stay there. Bjartur shared a bed...