WOW. Once I started this book I could NOT put it down. Although it was was incredibly in tense and detailed, it was was well worth reading. It is narrated in the first person by Pauline, first as a young girl growing up and then Pauline turned Sister Johanna, a nun in the Catholic church. The chapters skip back in for the between the current day, the past when Pauline was in college and the recent past where Sister Johanna was investigating a sex abuse charge against a priest at a Catholic school in Iceland. The books transitions very smoothly between the three time periods, easily flowing through Sister Johanna's thoughts during in each time period and what is going on in her life during each time. None of the events that take place are easy for her to deal with yet her grace, dignity and faith get her through everything that is thrown at her by her superiors and the other people she has to deal with. She loses a great deal in her life yet holds her head high and carries on with pride. She investigates the sex abuse charges against grade school boys as best she knows how, appointed really only because she knows the Icelandic language and because of a secret the bishop has held over her most of her life. There is a somewhat shocking twist at the end which I did not see coming. This in an amazing story, beautifully crafted with perfectly chosen vocabulary--perfect description of the scenery, plot and character's thoughts and actions. I would love to read more from the author. Fabulous book.

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 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 timeline shifts between the two trips 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's awfully sad for a religious.