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A gripping account of the mysterious disappearance of a young nun in a northern Michigan town and the national controversy that followed when she turned up dead and buried in the basement of the church
This is a well researched true crime fiction piece about the murder of a nun in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula in the early 1900's. I came across this title in an alumni newsletter from University of Detroit Mercy for an alumni book group. The setting is a community of Polish settlers in what was then a remote area claimed as farmland from wilderness.
Sister Mary Janina disappeared on an August afternoon while the parish priest was out on a fishing expedition with his sister. His housekeeper, her daughter, and two other nuns were left behind. All three nuns were suffering from TB and took daily afternoon naps. Upon rising from their naps, they discovered that Sister Janina was gone. Extensive searches produced nothing. Two priests and 14 years later, her remains were discovered in the basement of the church when the new priest had ambitions of building a new church.
The rest of the book covers the investigation, trial, and the subsequent facts of the case. It is well written and compelling reading and would probably be of special interest for those who enjoy Michigan history ( )
Spoilers? Can there be a spoiler in a true crime book? I guess it keeps you reading when you don't know how the trial will end. We're doing a book program. I guess this book does need to be promoted. Anyway, it is the story of the murder of a nun in Northern Michigan in the early part of the 20th century, and the discovery of the bones & trial of the housekeeper 14 years later. It is well written & interesting to read.
"In the hands of a less skilled author, this story could have been sensationalized or turned into a kind of National Inquirer-type book. Mardi Link, however, lets the story speak for itself in all its dark, human complexity. Isadore's Secret is a well-researched and well written history with an appeal for anyone who loves a good story."
"Sister Mary Janina's disappearance made national headlines, but Link takes it a step further. She wrote a page-turning tale filled with facts, well done research, and interviews with family members. The writing will transport readers back to the early 1900s, when the sins of those living in a Northern Michigan town were uncovered."
"Former crime reporter Mardi Link, however, rewards readers with the revelation, or more importantly, insight and nuance on what is concealed, and it is neither dirty nor little. Her digging into the case via court, church and newspaper archives has resulted in a skillful narrative about deceit by omission — no one apparently tells an outright lie — and who gets caught in the web."
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If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. —KAHLIL GIBRAN
Dedica
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TO BEVELCHA CYNTHIA MARY MARSHA WOJCIECHOWSKI, POLISH PRINCESS AND BEST FRIEND FOREVER
Incipit
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SWINGING PLANKS OF LANTERN LIGHT shine through the musty air and onto the dirt floor of the church basement.
Citazioni
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Newspaper stories about the case were beginning to take on the breathless tone of pulp novels and stage plays. Until Sister Janina disappeared, entertainment for those in the region with a taste for the macabre was provided by a surprising source: the railroad. Passenger cars regularly left the tracks, whether because of loose wheels, debris, or damage, with various degrees of human injury the result. Each of these accidents regardless of severity attracted an audience who stood or sat nearby and watched as rescue workers arrived. Sometimes this audience even arrived with blankets, picnics, and parasols in tow.
For the first time Father Edward understood that neither years nor distance would put the missing nun to rest. It was as if he had to leave Isadore entirely in order to finally see the situation there clearly. Such a conclusion would have been his only option after one particularly memorable conversation. "I intend to build a new church at Isadore," Father Edward proudly told a priest from Detroit. "Have you selected a building site?" Father Lempke asked, innocently enough. "Oh, yes," Father Edward told the other priest eagerly. "It will be built on the same site as the present church. As soon as that one's torn down, my new church will be built in its place." If Father Edward had been expecting to impress Father Lempke with this news, he was now gravely disappointed. The reaction of this city priest to his news from the north country was far from what he must have hoped. Father Lempke leaned in close. "Well then," he whispered to the younger man, "what are you going to do with the bones?"
Even in the below-zero air, the party telephone lines throughout Leelanau County must have been ready to catch fire from the exchange of news.
A human circle of dread surrounded the wooden table.
If their client had indeed gone mad, it was this sadistic couple, alongside the sheriff, that had caused her unfortunate condition. Campbell and Glassmire believed the pair had twisted Stella's mind as if it were a wet rag, tightening and tightening until nothing else useful could be extracted from it, except perhaps by professional psychological means.
The image Campbell was left with, as he watched his client exit the jail and be helped into the sheriff's automobile, was of Stella, bone thin and disheveled, huddled alone in the back seat, possibly innocent and now possibly crazy, too. Try as he might, he could not convince himself that, in the months to come, her fate would get no worse than this.
They first remarked upon her emaciated countenance; she was so thin, they said, that a lock on her cell would be moot. If she so desired she could turn sideways and slip through the bars.
The frightening prune-faced woman who had once ruled over the domestic affairs of Holy Rosary so completely had shriveled into a harmless raisin.
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
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A gripping account of the mysterious disappearance of a young nun in a northern Michigan town and the national controversy that followed when she turned up dead and buried in the basement of the church
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(3.5)
1
Sister Mary Janina disappeared on an August afternoon while the parish priest was out on a fishing expedition with his sister. His housekeeper, her daughter, and two other nuns were left behind. All three nuns were suffering from TB and took daily afternoon naps. Upon rising from their naps, they discovered that Sister Janina was gone. Extensive searches produced nothing. Two priests and 14 years later, her remains were discovered in the basement of the church when the new priest had ambitions of building a new church.
The rest of the book covers the investigation, trial, and the subsequent facts of the case.
It is well written and compelling reading and would probably be of special interest for those who enjoy Michigan history (