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Into a remote village in northern Michigan came two unmarried women who couldn't have been more different.
One was a gregarious and young Catholic nun, and the other was an uncompromising and joyless housekeeper. The year was 1907 and within the isolation of Isadore, they separated themselves even further.
The tiny church, school, convent, and rectory were yet their own island, and it was there that these two women found themselves living in the same household. The result would be sorrow of the worst sort.
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What Reviewers say about Isadore's Secret:
"An
astonishing story of a nun who was murdered in Isadore nearly 100 years
ago. Years after the nun's disappearance, her bones were found, but only
when local law enforcement found out about this murder as gossip spread
through the town was anything done to find out who killed the nun,
Sister Janina. A compelling story and a well-researched and carefully
written account of the events that affected Isadore and its Catholic
Polish population so greatly."
-Michigan Notable Book Award committee
"Former crime reporter Mardi Link rewards readers with . . . 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 and who gets caught in the web. Link richly shows us byways and highways out of Isadore: the whole
story on Edward’s sin, Sister Janina’s background in her novitiate with
the Felician Order, Andrew and Stella’s exit from the village and their
return. Plus, the story of how Sheriff John Kinnucan and Judge Martin
Brown collaborated in the legal proceedings is wondrous. If you thrive
on conspiracy theory, you will find here an underpinning in reality. Link handles the Sister Janina case with a high degree
of art."
-Grand Rapids Press
"Author Mardi Link created her own building project with this true-crime
book, carefully constructing the facts around the young nun’s
disappearance with documents, original research, and interviews with the
family members of those involved — who, as it turned out, still had
some new information to share more than 100 years later. This dramatic
and readable tale would be a terrific crime novel — but it’s all the
more shocking as a work of non-fiction."
-The Holland Sentinel
"What happens when you combine a small northern Michigan town, a nun
missing from a convent, and glimpses of Ann Arbor along the way? The
answer is a true-crime story that is the
latest in author Mardi Link's list of terrifically written thrillers. 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 after a church
basement is unearthed to make way for a larger church."
-Heritage Newspapers
"With what must have been painstaking research, Link digs
into the past and unearths the facts and events surrounding the
mysterious disappearance of the affable young nun. From stark fields to
dark confessionals, the reader is taken on an esoteric journey into the
mind-set of small town secrets and the larger, though no less complex,
machinations of the church. Isadore’s Secret is absorbing, and its constant supposition
keeps you ruminating on the facts long after you close the book. Though
the story is a century old, it continues to be cloaked in mystery up to
the present day. Artfully drawn on historic Michigan tableau, it is no
wonder that Isadore’s Secret was selected as a 2010 Michigan Notable Book. However, with its mass appeal and intrigue, you don’t have to live in Michigan to appreciate its thrill."
-Night Light Review
"An astonishing story told with beautiful, lyrical prose that never overshadows the facts. Mardi Link's achievement with Isadore's Secret is nothing short of stellar."
-Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author of Starvation Heights
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