The Toppled Ash

Kristina Grondahl

The Scandinavian coast, mid-1800s.

An Ash tree falls in the forest and everyone hears it.

Roof beams shake, rows of oats flinch.

Villagers gather in disbelief to grieve and pay homage to the Tree of Life they’d presumed eternal.

In this telling of what ensues, the mythic is bonded to the deeply observed ordinary, a saga of human destinies and the daily miraculous.

Purchase on Amazon
The cover of a book titled"The Toppled Ash" by Kristina Grondahl. The illustration features a bird's nest in the center, surrounded by vines with leaves and small flowers, and a butterfly flying nearby. Illustration by Abbey Geneve Bear