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The Scent of God [paperback] - Price: 15.00
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by Beryl Singleton Bissell, ISBN: 978-1582433615
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A memoir of forbidden love between a cloistered nun and a priest, The Scent of God is a saga of love, death, guilt, and redemption. From hidden cloister to tropical island to romantic Italy the book traverses a landscape of laughter, rage, and tears as Sister Mary Beatrix learns that human longing is a but a prelude to life’s greatest lessons.
In spare but lyric language Bissell weaves the mesmerizing story of a journey that reaches beyond dogma to personal truth and evokes a transformation that changes not only herself but the lives of those she loves best.
Readers are raving about this book, and like best-selling author Ann Patchett, find Bissell's memoir impossible to put down or forget.
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Biography :
Beryl Singleton Bissell was born in New Jersey, spent her teenage years in Puerto Rico, entered a monastery the day after her 18th birthday, left the monastery fifteen years later.
She's been a mother, a widow, a divorcee, and for the past ten years has been happily married to a man nine years younger than she is.
Her work experience is almost as varied as her married history. After leaving the monastery, she worked with a set designer in Puerto Rico, spent a year as national coordinator for the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, designed and sold 18-karat gold jewelry manufactured in Italy, and spent eight years at Milkweed Editions, a not-for-profit literary press in Minneapolis.
Singleton Bissell returned to school as a single mother while working full time at Milkweed Editions. In 1996 she received her B.A. from Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul. In 1996, she was chosen as an alternate for a two-week writing residency at Norcroft that resulted in a marriage proposal, the first chapters of her award-winning memoir, The Scent of God (Counterpoint NY April 2006, hardcover, April 2007 softcover), a Loft creative nonfiction award, and an eventual move from the Twin Cities to the North Shore of Lake Superior in 1998.
For the past eight years Bissell has been a columnist for the Cook County News Herald and a free-lance writer for various regional and national magazines. She has two children: a son Thomas, and a daughter Francesca who died in 2001; three grandchildren, a lovely husband and home.
Book Review :
“A riveting memoir of devout faith and forbidden love." -- Star Tribune Best of 2006 Minnesota Authors
"The apparent schism between the life of the spirit and that of the mind presented [Bissell] with some extremely difficult decisions, and working through them clearly gave her a unique and beautiful perspective, one that served her well when cancer struck in her family. Bissell seems to find inner joy even during life's most difficult trials, and she writes about spiritual matters with a marvelous clarity of vision." -- The Washington Post
“It is rare to read a memoir that isn't at least occasionally self-aggrandizing and narcissistic, but this one is never so. Instead, Bissell's humility and blatant honesty are refreshing, invigorating, and inspirational. Recommended for all libraries.” -Library Journal
"A deeply moving tale of a woman torn between her love for God and her love for one of his emissaries." -- Publishers Weekly
“Superlative . . . like holding a prism to the light. All the elements of faith, vocational discernment, sexuality, family, growth and change - both personal and institutional - are lovingly and critically presented in their ambiguity and power.” --Ridge Reviews and Reflections
"[A] powerful piece of writing, a profound and honest meditation on love." -- The Tablet (England)
“Vivid detail and skillful dialogue . . . The strength of Ms. Bissell’s memoir lies in the unflinching examination of her motives for entering and leaving religious life… A compelling and soulful read.” -- National Catholic Reporter
"Though Catholic school survivors will find this book especially fascinating, everyone can identify with the uncertainties Bissell faces -- the ones that make us all human, whatever our order in life. -- Bust
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