The Sacrament
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Jane Copland
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By:
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Olaf Olafsson
About this listen
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 whom 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.
©2019 Olaf Olafsson (P)2019 HarperAudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Pastor Jason Faircloth knows what he believes. His clear faith, in fact, is why he is one of the most prominent pastors in Atlanta. He relies on it to discipline his daughter, his wife, his church. He prays daily that others would come to see God's ways as he does. And it will cost him everything he has. Groping for answers in the face of tragedy, Jason is determined to find the one person left who might provide healing: the granddaughter kept hidden from him.
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What an awesome eye opener
- By Anthea on 07-12-22
By: Randall Arthur
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The Castle
- By: Franz Kafka
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On his deathbed, Franz Kafka asked that all his unpublished manuscripts be burned. Fortunately, his request was ignored, allowing such works as The Trial to earn recognition among the literary masterpieces of the 20th century. This brilliant new translation of The Castle captures comedic elements and visual imagery that earlier interpretations missed.
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Obscure, enigmatic, and not for everyone
- By John on 02-08-06
By: Franz Kafka
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The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
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Classic who-dunnit
- By Kathi on 02-24-13
By: Ruth Rendell
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Two Crosses
- Secrets of the Cross, Book 1
- By: Elizabeth Musser
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The glimmering Huguenot cross she so innocently wears leads her deep into the shadows. When Gabriella Madison arrives in the French village of Castelnau in 1961 to continue her university studies, she doesn’t anticipate being drawn into the secretive world behind the Algerian war for independence from France. And the further she delves into the war efforts, the more her faith is challenged. The people who surround her bring a whirlwind of transforming forces.
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Faith, Romance, Spies, and Fascinating History
- By Amazon Customer on 05-02-19
By: Elizabeth Musser
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44 Scotland Street
- By: Alexander McCall Smith
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The brilliant Alexander McCall Smith became an international sensation with his New York Times best-selling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels. His award-winning wit, made famous through that series, is fully on display in 44 Scotland Street.
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Smith's answer to Maupin
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-05
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The Unsettled Dust
- By: Robert Aickman
- Narrated by: Reece Shearsmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Aickman, the supreme master of the supernatural, brings together eight stories in which strange things happen that the reader is unable to predict. His characters are often lonely and middle-aged, but all have the same thing in common: they are brought to the brink of an abyss that shows how terrifyingly fragile our piece of mind actually is. 'The Unsettled Dust', 'The House of the Russians', 'No Stronger Than a Flower', 'The Cicerones' and 'Ravissante' first appeared in the Sub Rosa collection in 1968, but the stories were published together as The Unsettled Dust in 1990.
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Perfectly read, sheds new light on this work
- By James Townsend on 04-10-17
By: Robert Aickman
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The Book of Lost Names
- By: Kristin Harmel
- Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Lina Meisel, a retired librarian in Florida, is reading the newspaper one morning when she freezes. Her eyes lock on a photograph of a book she hasn’t seen in 65 years - a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names. The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II - an experience Lina remembers well - and the search to reunite people with the texts stolen from them so long ago. The book in the photograph is one of the most fascinating cases.
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Another whiney female "heroine"
- By Patricia on 08-15-20
By: Kristin Harmel
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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A Killer in King’s Cove
- A Lane Winslow Mystery, Book 1
- By: Iona Whishaw
- Narrated by: Marilla Wex
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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It is 1946, and war-weary young ex-intelligence officer Lane Winslow leaves London to look for a fresh start. When she finds herself happily settled into a sleepy hamlet in the interior of British Columbia surrounded by a suitably eclectic cast of small-town characters, she feels like she may finally be able to put her past to rest. But then a body is discovered, the victim of murder, and although she works alongside the town's Inspectors Darling and Ames to discover who might have possibly have motivation to kill, she unknowingly casts doubt on herself.
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Clever and Comfortable
- By Aunt B on 10-11-21
By: Iona Whishaw
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To See the Moon Again
- By: Jamie Langston Turner
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first step to letting go of the past is forgiving it …Every day of her life Julia Rich lives with the memory of a horrible accident she caused long ago. In the years since, she has tried to hide her guilt in the quiet routine of teaching at a small South Carolina college, avoiding close relationships with family and would-be friends. But one day a phone call from Carmen, a niece she has never met, disrupts her carefully controlled world.
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Beautiful Story of Forgiveness and Selfless Love
- By sharon on 09-20-14
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Dark Shadows
- By: Marilyn Ross
- Narrated by: Kathryn Leigh Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite warnings from the townspeople, Victoria Winters accepts the offer to come to the strange Collinwood as Governess. For some curious reason, she feels the secret of her past may be uncovered in the bleak manor high on Widow’s Hill. From the Moment she arrives, Victoria becomes the target of someone in the house determined to destroy her. As the wind moans and the rain lashes around the isolated Collinwood, Victoria, without friends in the manor, feels death close in on her - a choking, frightening death.
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Fun alternate history
- By JDH on 07-29-19
By: Marilyn Ross
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The Pendulum
- A Granddaughter's Search for Her Family's Forbidden Nazi Past
- By: Julie Lindahl
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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This powerful memoir traces Brazilian-born American Julie Lindahl's journey to uncover her grandparents' role in the Third Reich, as she is driven to understand how and why they became members of Hitler's elite, the SS. Out of the unbearable heart of the story - the unclaimed guilt that devours a family through the generations - emerges an unflinching will to learn the truth.
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 01-14-19
By: Julie Lindahl
What listeners say about The Sacrament
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Deedra
- 01-10-23
The Sacrament
I enjoyed this book. Set in Iceland a nun, who as a teen had carnal thought for her room mate,is tasked to go find out the 'truth' about molestation in the Catholic school in Iceland. Truth is hard to come by when you have only a letter to go by. Narration by Jane Copland was very good.
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- Joanne1953
- 12-16-19
Three Timelines
This story is told by intertwining three time periods - 40 years ago, 20 years ago, and today. Perhaps in the book version, the switches between eras is delineated in some way, but in the audio version, no distinction is made. From one paragraph to the next, I had to figure out where in time the story was. Very, very confusing.
Re the story itself: if you like your main character deeply flawed and aware of it, then this is a good choice for you. If you like stories where motivations are explained in one sentence and fall short of being convincing, you might want to skip this one. Ultimately, It is well-written and will stay with you afterwards.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Cheryl
- 01-29-20
Compelling story. What would you do?
The reader is privy to every thought of Sr. Johanna, from youth to beyond maturity. She is a victim of living at a time in history when being true to herself would mean being a social outcast. She has to decide what she's willing to sacrifice and questions God and the Church's (as represented by proud, haughty men) infallible wisdom on the topic. She carries on through life at times resenting what she perceives as the injustice of God that she cannot argue with, until she encounters an ultimate decision of good vs. evil-- will she now be true to herself and disobey God and her "infallible" priest-superiors in the Church?
Wonderfully written, an intelligent story with sympathetic characters and made me wonder what I would do in this situation. My only complaint was this recorded issue was often hard to follow, as the book jumps back and forth in time. Since I'm listening while driving, I can't glance at the phone all the time to see if a new chapter began, and sometimes I couldn't perceive when or if a new chapter began, signaling a change in time or place. Often I had to rewind and listen to a chapter again to figure out what was going on, although that was OK- it made this delicious book last longer. Perhaps the reader should have stated "Chapter 1...2, etc" although that may have interrupted the "flow" the author wanted to maintain. I deducted one star overall for this reason but the story itself was wonderful and intelligent.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Dorothy
- 07-05-20
I loved this book!
Beautifully written, suspenseful, not too long, unusual plot. Great narrator. GG
I highly recommend.
It’s one of those hidden jewels.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 05-28-24
nothing
I still have no idea what's going on half way in ...boring! so hard to follow.
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- Craig
- 03-08-23
I don't care about your meatloaf...
This story is about a tragedy. It involves the Catholic Church. The story is important, done well, with sensitive underpinnings regarding child abuse. But, even though it is so poignant, there isn't no there, there!
It's a gutless expose', that spends more time talking about roast potatoes, Toyotas on snowy roads, and closeted lesbian nuns, than developing a great Icelandic mystery to hold our attention. I could not feel any tension in this novel.
This book is a wasted credit (again?!?!!).
I expected a better story from Olaf Olafson. He let us down with this sappy church coverup story and Catholic-gulit screed.
Don't spend a credit on this one!
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- Dale- Sane in Texas
- 02-18-20
DREARY DARK returning
Dreary Dark Returning in 15 words Unique Words to seven Dreary Dark Returning in 15 words Dreary Dark Returning in 15 words Dreary Dark Returning in 15 words
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- SB
- 04-05-22
Boring and confusing
There are multiple timelines in this story and it is very hard to follow. The transitions from one time period to another are not clear in audio format. Ultimately, the story is slow, boring, and full of clichés and stereotypes. I never connected with the characters or the story.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mayflower K8
- 05-16-20
Couldn't Finish
Excruciatingly slow-paced plot. Narrator was very good but I never was drawn to the characters.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AmazonCustomer
- 12-16-19
Not a fan
The author spends too much time painting the protagonist as an idiot with a cell/mobile phone, despite her being a member of the generation that invented and continues to perfect it. He also uses stereotypes to describe her motivation for becoming a nun such as running away from her sexual nature or being too easily manipulated by an ambitious priest.
He also further paints a one sided expression of religious women who substitute dogs and gardens for children, home and spouse. I did not believe the final outcome of the mystery for one minute and felt cheated after completing the book.
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