The first in a series of four novels about Karl Oscar and Kritina Nilsson, a Swedish couple who flee poverty and oppression in Sweden with their three children to make a new life in Minnesota. The author, Vilhelm Moberg, one of Swedens' great 20th century writers, captures the daily lives of Swedish pioneers in early America. With a new introduction by Roger McKnight, head of Swedish Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College.  (SWE14, $18.95)