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The Scent of God: A Memoir
On the day following her eighteenth birthday, Beryl enters a cloistered convent in New Jersey, believing that God has called her to this way of life. After ten years in the convent--years spent experiencing periods of bliss and others of inner torment--she is called to Puerto Rico to help care for her ailing father. Once there she meets Padre Vittorio, a handsome Italian priest, and discovers that her religious garb cannot protect her from her budding sexuality. For the next three years, as she travels to and from the island, she struggles to reconcile human desire with spiritual longing. Unable to confide in either her mother or abbess, she tries to find the inner freedom that would allow her to love fully. The events that follow take the reader on a dizzying journey into the heart of desire, both spiritual and human. In spare but lyric language, Bissell weaves a powerful story of love, death, guilt, and redemption--a pilgrimage that reaches beyond dogmas to personal truth and evokes a transformation that changes not only Beryl but the lives of those whom she most loves.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
36 people are currently reading
558 people want to read
About the author
Beryl Singleton Bissell
5 books37 followersThe award-winning author of The Scent of God -- a Book Sense notable in April 2006 -- selected by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a "Best of 2006 Minnesota Authors." Writes frequently for Lake Superior Magazine, was a columnist with the Cook County News Herald for 10 years, has been published in numerous publications in print and online, and in the anthologies Surviving Ophelia edited by Cheryl Dellasaga and The New Writer's Handbook:a practical anthology of best advice for your craft and careeer, Volume 2. Beryl's second book, A View of the Lake (Lake Superior Port Cities Inc, was published July 1, 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
June 25, 2015
5 – I teared up and cried numerous times – stars. I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. This book crept up on me and enveloped me.
I don’t even know where to start. Before I even start saying anything, I would like to say this is not a book about religion or God or anything preachy. It is not a racy book about a nun and priest getting it on. It is very far from that. It is a beautifully crafted book about a courageous woman who lays bare all her flaws and insecurities to close scrutiny.
Wow I was expecting something else when I started reading this memoir. I expected this book not to be my cup of tea at all and I expected not to like it as much as I did. As a voracious reader, I always want to read something that would be completely different from my life and see the world differently through someone else’s eyes.
I am so happy I gave this book a chance. I fell in love with the memoir and with Beryl. It stirred up so many emotions within me and made me cry and laugh too. I just stayed up the night and finished it. Now I have to go to work soon as I am typing up this review.
The writing alone is worth reading the book.
The writing was so lyrical and beautiful and transporting me right next to her as she narrated her life events. I felt I was a voyeur watching her throughout the book and soaking all her emotions into me, along with her. I connected emotionally with the book and I feel Beryl is a good friend.
I loved this gem of a book so much and I borrowed this book from kindle unlimited and now I am going to purchase a copy. This book deserves a second reading.
The book is broken down into 3 parts
Dawn
Midday
Dusk
The author describes her childhood and how she grew up In New York and moved to Puerto Rico. She was studious and did well in school. Sometimes she did have problems socializing and preferred to be at home instead. But she decided to make most of what she had and become heavily involved with sports, homecoming etc. She did have her share of boys. In those days, they were chaperoned. But certain prophetic dreams and being educated in the later years of her high school in a covenant back in New York made her want to be a nun.
The author clearly states she did not know much about God or religion when she became a nun. She also shows her selfishness and how she hurt her parents by becoming a nun. She battled with being anorexic and she tried her best to please the head nun. She admits never focusing on her vocation and at times she swerved from it. She coped with it with discipline and her determination to be a nun. She wanted to serve the world and serve others.
Her father has a stroke and she is called back home to help take care of him in Puerto Rico. This is when she starts doubting vocation and goes through life changes.
I really enjoyed the book and Highly recommended.
June 30, 2007
The author spent fifteen years as a nun with the Poor Claires. When she was summoned back to her parents' home in Puerto Rico to help care for her ailing father she met Padre Vittorio. The author eloquently discussed her conflict of leaving her cloistered life and beginning the next chapter of her life at around 30 in the outside world, where she had the freedom to make her own decisions. She carefully took her reader through her long and developing relationship with Vittorio. Through many serendipitous events, good and bad, the two do finally join lives together. This was a beautifully written memoir of love and loss that kept me engaged from beginning to end.
February 1, 2024
The Scent of God: A Memoir by Beryl Singleton Bissell is an endearing portrait of a woman's coming of age in the spiritual and secular worlds. It begins when her family moves to Puerto Rico for her father's job. Her protected upbringing did not prepare her for the sights and sounds of this lavish locale, and the early years of puberty become complicated with burgeoning desires she is unable to articulate. A numinous experience leads her to embrace a religious vocation in the Order of the Poor Clares nuns in another state. Initially very happy, she slowly becomes anorexic which is indirectly related to weight control issues in childhood. Her vocation is slowly eroded when she returns to Puerto Rico to help with her ailing father and becomes attracted to a priest in the community. Beryl's life becomes an odyssey as she tries to reconcile spiritual love with secular love. She plumbs the depths of joy and sorrow on a remarkable journey towards wholeness and peace.
December 19, 2007
Interesting journey of a woman who chooses service to the Catholic church, then falls in love with a priest. Must loving God and loving man be mutually exclusive?
April 22, 2017
This is a true story of Beryl who enters the convent at 18 years. After 10 years she leaves to marry a priest. Well an ex priest!
I found Beryl's religious fervour at such a young age fascinating. She describes her feelings in great detail and it is so outside the norm that I had to put the book down and reflect on it. Her life in the convent was an eye opener. Praying through the night, silence. All the things I've thought "why would someone live like that?" Beryl appears to love and delight in.
Nevertheless she ends up having to leave the convent to care for a family member. She meets a priest and they end up falling in love. Her description of their love is truly beautiful and poignant. I won't say anymore as I don't want to give anything away. This book was full of emotion and richness and deep spiritual insights. It was a satisfying, heartwarming read
I found Beryl's religious fervour at such a young age fascinating. She describes her feelings in great detail and it is so outside the norm that I had to put the book down and reflect on it. Her life in the convent was an eye opener. Praying through the night, silence. All the things I've thought "why would someone live like that?" Beryl appears to love and delight in.
Nevertheless she ends up having to leave the convent to care for a family member. She meets a priest and they end up falling in love. Her description of their love is truly beautiful and poignant. I won't say anymore as I don't want to give anything away. This book was full of emotion and richness and deep spiritual insights. It was a satisfying, heartwarming read
October 1, 2008
Although this book took a while to get going for me, by the halfway point I was completely hooked. This memoir does what the best of them do: it tells a story as compelling as anything you'll find in fiction, yet it rings true because the author is painfully honest in her own struggles and failings, so that you can believe in her triumphs. This book can be read on two levels, both of which resonated with me. On one level, you have a "forbidden love" story, the story of two people who fell in love with one another despite their lives and their decisions (and acceptance) that they would forgo romantic love. On this level, the book does not disappoint: it's one of the most moving love stories I've ever read, complete with all the ups and downs and insecurities of first (and in this case, great), love, but it manages to do something few fictional accounts of love do: it makes you really want to see the couple together in spite of the hardship they endure. Because the hardship was real and not contrived by an author to heighten romantic tension, it's that much more compelling.
On the second level, this book is an exploration of Beryl's relationship with Catholicism and with her faith as a whole. While it's a little harder for me to talk about this thread objectively, this was the thing about this book that really lodged beneath my ribs. The ebbs and flows of Beryl's faith will be familiar to most readers who desire or seek relationship with a higher power; but what was really inspiring was Beryl's ability to find God despite having to endure some of the hardest realities anyone should have to face, including the death of a child. This is a story of great love, great pain, and an even greater God.
On the second level, this book is an exploration of Beryl's relationship with Catholicism and with her faith as a whole. While it's a little harder for me to talk about this thread objectively, this was the thing about this book that really lodged beneath my ribs. The ebbs and flows of Beryl's faith will be familiar to most readers who desire or seek relationship with a higher power; but what was really inspiring was Beryl's ability to find God despite having to endure some of the hardest realities anyone should have to face, including the death of a child. This is a story of great love, great pain, and an even greater God.
July 14, 2016
Beryl Singleton Bissell tells the story of her life as a religous: specifically a cloistered order called the Poor Clares. She does a masterful job of pacing and the arc of the story, with it's twists and turns, kept me turning pages. I read this in 2 days.
She structures her book in sections according to the daily prayers of the Catholic life, using their Latin terms, and provides a poetic description of each prayer and how it relates to the inner life.
I especially appreciate that she treats her own faith with respect throughout, without the tone of anger or bitterness often seen in memoirs by ex-Catholics. (Disclaimer: I am an ex-Catholic and an atheist).
Highly recommend to all, religious or not.
She structures her book in sections according to the daily prayers of the Catholic life, using their Latin terms, and provides a poetic description of each prayer and how it relates to the inner life.
I especially appreciate that she treats her own faith with respect throughout, without the tone of anger or bitterness often seen in memoirs by ex-Catholics. (Disclaimer: I am an ex-Catholic and an atheist).
Highly recommend to all, religious or not.
July 8, 2014
I was surprised I liked this book so much. I was expecting it to be a typical anti-Catholic rant, and I was not looking forward to reading a tirade written by an ex-nun. But it was not like that at all. I found this memoir to be a very honest and reverent story, of a young girl who sought after God and wanted to live a religious life in a cloistered monastery. She lived her dream for a time but eventually left her group and married. The only part I found disappointing was that Ms Singleton Bissell did not dedicate this book to her late husband, and she didn't include any pictures! But you can find some on her website. I would definitely read her other books. Her writing is very compelling.
July 23, 2008
A beautifully written book. I got a glimpst of something completely foreign to me. I have never understood why a person would choose to become a nun/priest and live in a monstery. I never even thought of nuns as "real" people. This book helped me understand one womans journey into spiritual life and her conflict of when years later she falls in love and wants to leave the church. A compelling and interesting story spaning 40 years and taking place in the United States, Purto Rico, and Italy.
September 29, 2008
As a good little Catholic girl who grew up and explored the possibility of leaving the Church to become a Protestant, I did not have the experience of being immersed in my faith so deeply as to stand on the threshold of young womanhood and forfeit my future to center a cloistered nunnery. Kuddos to the author for providing insight into her decision to do so, as well as her decision to leave a decade later to marry a priest.
October 28, 2012
I'm still not sure what makes this book one of my favorite memoirs. It just is. There is something unique, wholesome and refreshing about it. Probably because you don't see love, religion and self-discovery used as concurrent angles too often. A nun falls in love with a priest and they both have to make a decision. The lyricism that outlines their dilemma, the forthrightness with which the narrator tells the story...all very appealing.
May 20, 2008
This extraordinary book tells the story of a young woman who enters a Cloistered Convent as a late teen, develops anorexia, and 15 years later on leave to care for her sick fathers, falls in love with an Italian priest. Bissell took me on a spiritual, dizzying and often raw journey where she bears her soul to all.
June 19, 2016
This is a poignant story of love. A love for God and sensual love. The words flow across the pages and I felt as if I were in the monestary, could feel the sting of the hot wool habit on my skin and visualize the beauty of Puerto Rico. Beautifully written Beryl and I look forward to your next book.
May 26, 2007
This book was one of those gems that I stumbled upon just looking through the shelves at the library. I liked the cover and ended up loving this memoir. The author was a cloistered nun for many years and it is her story of falling in love, finding joy and sorrow and a true, beautiful faith.
December 19, 2007
The book is a true life story about a young girl who dedicates her life to God, choosing to live in a cloistered convent only to find out that God had different plans for her. A beautiful story - it made me cry on the airplane.
February 16, 2008
I loved this book. I didn't have time to sit down and read it in one sitting which I think made the book even more captivating and allowed me the time to really enjoy this woman's life and where her path led her.
June 30, 2009
A truly moving book (I was sobbing at the end..) that I read in 2 days...while working, driving, eating, etc! What an incredible journey this book takes you on.....and the good news is the author is writing a sequel!
August 28, 2007
This is my all-time favorite memoir. Beryl tells her life story without begging for sympathy. I will read it again and again.
November 16, 2007
oh, this book is pure poetry. i have read it so many times, it is a joy to me to read of beryl's life and her choices and struggles, and her great, great love.
May 18, 2015
THE SCENT OF GOD is an inner retreat. I return to it again and again to breathe in the power of love!
March 30, 2008
I am not a religious person, and even though this is about a cloistered nun, I greatly appreciated the story. This is an honest, moving memoir, and I highly recommend it! Quick easy, gripping read.
July 25, 2008
The Scent of God by Beryl Singleton Bissell is a work of fine art, reminiscent of a painting by Rubens or a haunting Saint-Sa
September 30, 2024
Nothing better than a true story of a nun falling in love with a priest. The author is lovely, book well written. Inside look of monastic life always a treat.
October 31, 2007
This author has a truly remarkable story. She writes from the heart.
November 1, 2008
This book was beautifully written and told an amazing story. I loved it!!
December 1, 2022
This starts as a 3-star book, then becomes a fascinating 5-star read about a nun's sexual awakening and marriage to a priest, until a weak final section leaves a lot of unanswered questions and a disappointed reader.
It's certainly a unique story that is at times told well and worth reading, but the author sometimes interrupts her chronological timeline, skips large chunks of years, and then underwrites the big reveal in the middle.
She does pull back the secret dealings of Catholic Bishops, priests, nuns, and the politics of a cloister. After reading this I'm unsure how anyone could remain an active member of Catholicism because leaders look the other way when they hypocritically sin and have tacit endorsement of priestly sexual affairs. None of it makes the Catholic church look good but the author oddly continues in the faith after she condemns Catholic leaders for falsehoods, inconsistencies and hypocrisy. If she was so angry at the church, finding that she couldn't agree with some of its basic dogmas, then why did she continue to be an active daily mass Catholic long after she gave up her vocation?
The book needs some good editing when it three times becomes a type of travelogue through Italy with a lot of unnecessary details of what they ate and where they stayed. She also never explains how that this priest and nun that had committed to "poverty" were able to afford months traveling Europe and staying in nice lodgings.
Then Bissel's confusing final fifty pages include tossing in that her priest/husband was once a Mussolini youth soldier, long sections on two major deaths, and then a quick addition about her adult daughter being killed. It's all handled extremely unemotionally.
Meanwhile, she finds time to mock Richard Nixon for his "dishonesty and trickery" that she calls "abuse of power." This is from the woman who spent years hiding her love affair with a priest, deceived others in order to sneak off with the guy, repeatedly sinned against her parents and convent leader, and lied to her own husband about his cancer diagnosis. She, not Richard Nixon or the Catholic hierarchy, is the main offender in this story. And while there's a bit of remorse, for the most part the longer their illicit affair went on the less apologetic she becomes.
The final two pages are so bizarre, jumping ahead 20 years to mention her daughter's murder in Minneapolis with no details or context. What happened to the rest of Beryl Bissell's story? What did she learn beyond the convent turning her into a crabby, illogical, unstable woman living in modern society? It's too bad because there are some fascinating sections and profound moments. But if she sensed the scent of God there's not much aroma of it here.
It's certainly a unique story that is at times told well and worth reading, but the author sometimes interrupts her chronological timeline, skips large chunks of years, and then underwrites the big reveal in the middle.
She does pull back the secret dealings of Catholic Bishops, priests, nuns, and the politics of a cloister. After reading this I'm unsure how anyone could remain an active member of Catholicism because leaders look the other way when they hypocritically sin and have tacit endorsement of priestly sexual affairs. None of it makes the Catholic church look good but the author oddly continues in the faith after she condemns Catholic leaders for falsehoods, inconsistencies and hypocrisy. If she was so angry at the church, finding that she couldn't agree with some of its basic dogmas, then why did she continue to be an active daily mass Catholic long after she gave up her vocation?
The book needs some good editing when it three times becomes a type of travelogue through Italy with a lot of unnecessary details of what they ate and where they stayed. She also never explains how that this priest and nun that had committed to "poverty" were able to afford months traveling Europe and staying in nice lodgings.
Then Bissel's confusing final fifty pages include tossing in that her priest/husband was once a Mussolini youth soldier, long sections on two major deaths, and then a quick addition about her adult daughter being killed. It's all handled extremely unemotionally.
Meanwhile, she finds time to mock Richard Nixon for his "dishonesty and trickery" that she calls "abuse of power." This is from the woman who spent years hiding her love affair with a priest, deceived others in order to sneak off with the guy, repeatedly sinned against her parents and convent leader, and lied to her own husband about his cancer diagnosis. She, not Richard Nixon or the Catholic hierarchy, is the main offender in this story. And while there's a bit of remorse, for the most part the longer their illicit affair went on the less apologetic she becomes.
The final two pages are so bizarre, jumping ahead 20 years to mention her daughter's murder in Minneapolis with no details or context. What happened to the rest of Beryl Bissell's story? What did she learn beyond the convent turning her into a crabby, illogical, unstable woman living in modern society? It's too bad because there are some fascinating sections and profound moments. But if she sensed the scent of God there's not much aroma of it here.
July 2, 2024
I came across this book quite by accident. I’m a gemologist/jewelry appraiser and was looking up a book on Beryl (a gem species that includes emerald and aquamarine) and this book popped up in my search. (There are some references to my profession in the book.)
Growing up in a Catholic family and surviving Catholic schools, I was intrigued and such a wonderful accident it was. I have pretty much strayed away from organized religion, so much so that I raised both my children without. The book was so moving and human and well written that it gave me the freedom to re-evaluate the concept of a spirituality in life that can comfort in times of profound sadness.
Growing up in a Catholic family and surviving Catholic schools, I was intrigued and such a wonderful accident it was. I have pretty much strayed away from organized religion, so much so that I raised both my children without. The book was so moving and human and well written that it gave me the freedom to re-evaluate the concept of a spirituality in life that can comfort in times of profound sadness.
February 23, 2020
It took me a bit to get immersed in this book but by the time I was, I couldn’t put it down. Beautifully written and a really bittersweet story. I wish there would have been more elaboration on the inner workings of her mind as she was grappling with her decision to become involved with a priest. Overall though I would recommend this book and really enjoyed it - and the marker of a great book? I cried at the end. 🧡
October 5, 2023
I enjoy stories of religious women and this was an interesting one. Interring story of falling in love as two religious individuals and wanting to be together, while also loving the church. It was a lot of crying and pouting by the author as her husband struggled to leave the priesthood. I was really looking for some reflection on that struggle and was disappointed that it was mainly absent.
August 2, 2019
Powerful memoir
I was so moved by this memoir - her passion, honesty and humanity. I could relate to so many of her struggles and feelings. I hated it to come to the end. I’d love to meet Beryl!
I was so moved by this memoir - her passion, honesty and humanity. I could relate to so many of her struggles and feelings. I hated it to come to the end. I’d love to meet Beryl!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews