Summary

Set in contemporary and World War II France, this is the story of Sister Bernard: her forbidden love, her uncertain faith, and her guilt- ridden past.

A once -bustling convent in the South of France is closing, leaving behind three elderly nuns. Forced, for the first time, to confront the community that she betrayed decades ago, Sister Bernard relives her life during the war.

At thirty, Sister Bernard can hear the voice of God-strident, furious, and personal. When a young Nazi soldier, a member of the German occupying forces, asks her to meet him in the church in secret one evening, she agrees. And so begins the horrifying and passionate love affair that will deafen the heavens and define her life, tempting her into duplicity. Obedience is a powerful exploration of one woman's struggle to reconcile her aching need to be loved with her fear of God's wrath.

Booklist Review

This deceptively quiet novel packs a powerful punch. As three elderly nuns in present-day France prepare to leave the safety and familiarity of the convent they have lived in since they were young women, memories and regrets haunt them all, especially 90-year-old Sister Bernard. As layer upon layer of past hurts and transgressions are peeled away, Bernard's WWII affair with a German soldier takes on an increasingly ominous and significant tone. A maddeningly simple peasant girl who lives with God's often disapproving voice constantly ringing in her head, she is swept away by a passion and carnality she doesn't truly understand. As the tale ricochets between the sorrow of the past and the pathos of the present, the two merge as Bernard's ultimate act of betrayal against her community is revealed, and the consequences reverberate through the decades. The narrative is artfully limned with despair, creating a disturbing portrait of faith and obsession.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

At the closing of the convent they call home and faced with the prospect of living out their remaining time in nursing homes, three elderly nuns-including Sister Bernard-reflect on their past and on the choices they made. Bernard remembers a time during World War II when German soldiers occupied her small town in the South of France and relives the pain that follows when she agrees to meet with one of them. Caught up an illicit tryst, Bernard spares little thought to betraying her town and friends, yet she is also haunted by the voice of a God who is harsh and fixated on her many faults. Yet as much as Bernard yearns for a measure of peace from the constant criticism, she fears the silence that would signify His absence even more. Verdict Told in flashback, Yallop's (Kissing Alice) U.S. debut is a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of faith and its reconciliation with imperfect humanity. The scenes depicting Bernard's past are especially richly detailed and textured, and the unfolding tale, while unhurried at the outset, is so engrossing that readers will experience a range of emotions as the tragic circumstances shaping Bernard's life are revealed.-Natasha Grant, New York (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.