<DIV>For centuries, people have celebrated every Midsummer’s Eve at an ancient spring near a small Swedish village. On that special night, when unmarried men and women dance and some unusual activities are permitted, the Bridal Spring has special powers.<BR><br> Vilhelm Moberg introduces four musicians on the last day that each one will ever know: a curmudgeonly fiddler from the 1930s, a sad and conscientious key-harp player from the plague era of 1711, a ne’er-do-well who plays the flute in 1545, and a goat-horn blower from prehistoric times who, like the others, only seeks happiness with a woman. Binding their stories together is the voice of the Bridal Spring itself, tart and grudgingly compassionate?and slow to reveal its secret.<BR><br> Each progression backward in time reflects Moberg’s rich knowledge of folklore and shows the changes in everyday life in Sweden’s past. First published in 1946, before the Emigrants novels, <B>The Brides of Midsummer</B> is a complex, compelling journey through the whole arc of human life.<BR><br> <B>Vilhelm Moberg,</B> Swedish author, playwright, and historian, was the author of the four-volume Emigrants series. <B>Gudrun Brunot</B> is a translator, vocal performer, and actor; she was born in Sweden and lives in Washington. <BR></DIV>