The Sacrament: A Novel

Written by Olaf Olafsson

Narrated by Jane Copland

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 claims.

A 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 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Dec 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062958174

Olaf Olafsson

Olaf Olafsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962. He studied physics as a Wien scholar at Brandeis University. He is the author of six previous novels, The Journey Home, Absolution, Walking into the Night, Restoration, One Station Away, and The Sacrament, and a story collection, Valentines. He spends his time in New York City, Sag Harbor, and Reykjavik.

Reviews for The Sacrament

[Ann Whisenhunt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once I was able to understand the sections (listening to the audiobook), I liked the story.

This definitely gives a small insight as to how priests were able to get away with the things they did. Also how some parents didn't want to believe their children or possibly bring the wraith of the priest against them.

[richardderus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Getting older, learning to live with the past, standing on the rocks of the walls you've crashed through and those you've tried to build, is a bear. You can't tell anyone younger what it means and anyone you know your own age not only knows but is busily trying to tidy the dust off their scratched, bloody feet.When what you've seen, felt, done no longer matters to anyone but you...polite avowals of interest are never to be presumed upon...then Life can't take anything else from you and your fears just melt. Sad, isn't it, that the murder hornets whose wings only flap when they have a head of rage built up, never just...leave it. Their stings don't land; their rage grows. The worst has already happened, and a surprising number of people have learned from their own lives that the loud, angry buzz of Being Right heralds nothing but unpleasant tasting and smelling poison.There is an amazing sweetness in indifference. Court it.Favorite quotes:The path to truth lies amid the long winding passageways of the soul, where fear and hope do battle with each other.–and–It is not difficult to show kindness to those we love, or even to strangers who might be in distress; it is easy to show relative consideration. The real test comes when we must forgive those who have done us harm, show love to our enemy. It is a test of our faith, our strength of mind.–and–I regret nothing. Was I talking to her or to myself—or to you, who watch over us without mercy, waiting for us to sin? Was I comforting myself or declaring war on you? Who knows? And nor should you, I said, and walked out.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sister Johanna learned to speak Icelandic when she and Halla roomed together in school many years ago. About twenty years in ago, she made a trip to Iceland to investigate alleged abuse in the school. Two events marked that time. The parish priest fell from the bell tower during her visit, and she found a boy in a broom closet. In the present she goes back to Iceland to talk with a young man who wishes to speak specifically with her although she'd rather remain at her convent tending the her rose garden and minding her dog George Harrison. The story weaves between the time periods. It can be difficult to distinguish if one doesn't pay attention to the text breaks. The beautifully written text paints a poignant picture of the understated abuse and of reflection on an unpleasant time. Sister Johanna's struggles with sexuality emerge as a secondary theme in the book.

[tangledthread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in Iceland and Paris, Sister Johanna is sent back to Iceland to re-investigate a allegations of abuse that she had investigated 20 years earlier. The story moves through three different time periods that were sometimes confusing in audiobook format. The story is classic Scandinavian noir which I quite enjoyed.

[judithrs · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Scarament. Olaf Olafsson. 2019. I rushed to read this because I was so taken with the Olafsson’s Restoration. What could I not like about a book that features a nun investigating a possible crime of abuse that is set in Iceland? It is told in flashbacks, and that is confusing at times as Sister Joanna’s memory blends with the present. It is beautifully written. The descriptions of winter in Iceland and the time Sister studied in Paris made me feel like I was there. The horrors of abuse are made even more horrible by the understated way they are described. I am not sure I agree with the resolution, but I have a better understanding of Sister’s motives.

[signoraedie_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While aspects of the story were engaging, the jumping in time with no references to who was speaking made it very difficult to follow.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 Dark and bleak, is this story of a young woman who struggles with a sexual orientation condemned by the Catholic Church. Going back and forth in time and alternating between Paris and Iceland, the story takes the reader inside the abuse accusations in the church. A nun herself now, she is tasked with the responsibility of investigating the abuse accusations arising out of a boys Catholic school in Iceland and their priest. Silence, a most potent motif is a result of sins kept hidden, of boys and their parents who are afraid to speak. The end result was unexpected, and surprising.I liked this, sometimes it is all in the atmosphere, and this book has it in spaces. The story had a authentic feel, the cold, brooding landscape, a scandal that has hit churches hard all over the world. It all fit together. Plus, I was reading while sitting in front of my picture window, while the sky darkened, the sun set and it seemed like I could imagine the story happening just as it did. Not quite the happy holiday story I should be reading, but it did fit the melancholy I am prone to as the sun stays hidden so often in winter months.ARC from Netgalley.

[eyes92c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Intense Nordic drama!A boy locked in a school's broom closet views something strange out of the window.A Catholic nun whose locked away her own secrets, including the reasons for her not quite belonging despite her best efforts. Her sense of humor, her attachment to her dog George Harrison and her rose garden don't quite still her heart. The persuasive church hierarchy who don't want to know. Cardinal Raffin, a sly holder of Sister Joanna Marie's life from before. He thinks that sending a nun with secrets can be controlled to investigate a school where abuse charges have been made. That this will suffice.Sister Joanna is sent not once but twice, in her forties and then twenty years later to investigate complaints about the church school. The major part of the novel, is set in Reykjavík, Iceland. How Sister Joanna comes to speak Icelandic is another story that we glimpse as Joanna recalls her time at the Sorbonne as she waits in Paris for her evening flight. Later we come to know more details.I felt like I was constantly in an ice storm reading this, not quite knowing which way was up, but aware of danger. The clues are just beyond reach, almost. I often felt overwhelmed by Joanna's powerlessness in the face of the church hierarchy. I felt the weight of her secrets. I lived the consequences of both her indecisions and her decisions.The ending was a surprise and yet not really. The story looks at the interweaving of the past and present, of how small vacillations, even non action can effect the future. That I am forced to reflect on all that goes on long after I finished reading further commends this story by Olafsson to me. At its heart it is dark and yet the light enters, just in rather different ways.A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sister Johanna Marie, a middle-aged French nun, speaks Icelandic. This she learned from a roommate at the Sorbonne many years ago: a roommate with whom she fell in love and whose presence drove her into the convent. Although she never made her feelings known, she has been hounded for decades by her bishop, now a cardinal, for his perceptions of her feelings, and twice he has emotionally blackmailed her into investigating accusations of child abuse by priests. The second time, sent to Reykjavík because of her knowledge of the language, the nun is emotionally tortured for several reasons: she wonders what's happened to the Icelandic girl and whether she should try to find her; she frets over her failure the first time the bishop recruited her for this task; she finds herself being officially thwarted at every turn by her superiors and the parents and children involved; and, as becomes evident only late in the book, she pushes this investigation too far. What also becomes clear only in the last half of the book is that there are two timelines in her travel to Iceland. The second trip, which comes into focus only slowly, is years after the first, and comes about because her presence is requested by a (now-grown) child she met briefly during the old investigation. The shifts between timelines are not at all clear, and I do think this confusion weakens the reader's ability to appreciate the facts being developed. The nun is insecure, not overly likable, and not particularly wise, and the story is told entirely from her point of view. She feels her life may have had no meaning, and the reader may agree with her, although there is a surprise ending that gives some evidence that she may leave the world a better place. Still, she sees God in her life only when she faces the evil she finds, and I think that must be terribly sad for a religious.