The haunting, vivid story of a nun whose past returns to her in unexpected ways, all while investigating a mysterious death and a series of harrowing abuse claimsA young nun is sent by the Vatican to investigate allegations of misconduct at a Catholic school in Iceland. During her time there, on a gray winter’s day, a young student at the school watches the school’s headmaster, Father August … headmaster, Father August Franz, fall to his death from the church tower.
Two decades later, the child—now a grown man, haunted by the past—calls the nun back to the scene of the crime. Seeking peace and calm in her twilight years at a convent in France, she has no choice to make a trip to Iceland again, a trip that brings her former visit, as well as her years as a young woman in Paris, powerfully and sometimes painfully to life. In Paris, she met an Icelandic girl who she has not seen since, but whose acquaintance changed her life, a relationship she relives all while reckoning with the mystery of August Franz’s death and the abuses of power that may have brought it on.
In The Sacrament, critically acclaimed novelist Olaf Olafsson looks deeply at the complexity of our past lives and selves; the faulty nature of memory; and the indelible mark left by the joys and traumas of youth. Affecting and beautifully observed, The Sacrament is both propulsively told and poignantly written—tinged with the tragedy of life’s regrets but also moved by the possibilities of redemption, a new work from a novelist who consistently surprises and challenges.
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This book is quiet. It sneaks up on you. You can’t wait to finish it. And you don’t expect the end to be what it turns out to be. It’s written in a deceptively simple style. The main character is a nun who doesn’t dwell on God so much as on a love she lost twenty years ago. That the author could write a woman’s POV so convincingly left me in awe (of course, I know other male writers have accomplished this, but it’s still a marvel when done so successfully). The nun’s “sidekick,” (if we can call him that), also with the church, is similarly unpredictable; he calls his car Jesus. Reading a story about abuse from those who investigate it within a church instead of from the point of view of the abused was a fascinating and interesting twist. I was awed by Olafsson’s ability to capture this world so convincingly.
Unrequited love and the consequences of never knowing. Set among church scandals in Iceland. A serious novel with complicated situations told through intermixing narrative timelines of a French nun.
A nun’s past and current lives converge in the vortex of abuse, obfuscating hierarchy, and flawed characters. Loss and redemption go hand-in-hand right up to the climactic tragedy. The physical, psychological, and spiritual journey tests Sister Johanna’s faith, memory, and sense of self. Will she regret her historic decisions in the light of their consequences?
It isn’t often that you find a book with a nun as its protagonist, much less a mystery set in Iceland. But here you go: a book that not only serves up those unlikely elements, but one with prose that really sings. The back-and-forth structural elements between past and present events were sometimes confusing, but this is a book that will make you wonder, once again, how and why religious organizations have been able to bury their abuse scandals, and you’ll find yourself rooting for this unlikely lovelorn heroine as you follow her from France to Iceland. The questions of spirituality and the meaning of grace add a great deal of depth to what otherwise might come across as an ordinary plot.
It’s a rare story that marries the suspense of a mystery with depth of thought, but in The Sacrament, Olaf Olafsson manages this alliance with a scientist’s mind and an artist’s eye… One reads this novel both eager and wary of knowing its secret fully, like the meaning of a dream.
The Sacrament is a miraculous novel. A delicate, literary page-turner, narrated by an unforgettable character whose life the reader will long remember after the last page is turned. With austere and beautiful prose, Olafsson has written a novel full of love, mystery, and regret. Fantastic.
This novel is so worth a careful read. The structure is complex and the themes are deep and serious as the story explores abuse, repression, power and the abuse of power through the eyes of a nun. Highly recommended.
Here’s a link to my full review in the New York Journal of Books:
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/sacrament-novel
Though admittedly, The Sacrament at times can be a bit of a confusing read, it is well worth your time and effort!!
The book is mostly told through the POV of Sister Johanna Marie and at times through a narrator. There are three distinct time periods covered: First, when young teenager Pauline Reyer comes to realize that she is different from most people she knows and tells her parents she has decided she wants to study theology. The reader “goes” with her to university and is privy to some of her experiences there. Next, when Sister Johanna Marie is a young nun. During this time she is sent to Iceland by the Vatican to investigate a letter sent to the Bishop in Iceland regarding matters occurring in the school there and file a report to the Church with her findings. Lastly, twenty years later, in her golden years, and still serving as a nun, Sister Johanna Marie is sent back to Iceland to talk to a young man who will only speak with her. He is one of the young boys who was present at the school she had investigated.
The story line flows freely between and among these time periods. Amidst the confusion this sometimes produces, the reader also sees the confusion in Sister Joanna herself; her striving to come to terms her own emotions, her desire to serve diligently, yet also her desire to find the truth and bring it to light. In this quiet and highly compelling story, the very character of the Church and its leaders are examined, ethical dilemmas are faced, and lives are both changed and lost.
This is a novel that I had a hard time putting it down. It was my first read of this author, but I can tell you honestly, that I found this book so impressive, I will be seeking out his other works.
Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher Harper Collins – Echo for allowing me the privilege of reading an ARC of this book in exhange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.