Win a copy of The Scent of God

To celebrate the release of the paperback edition of The Scent of God, I am offering a free signed copy to each of 10 lucky winners. All you have to do is share your feelings about the book jacket after reading the brief history of its origin in this post. A comment to this article is not an entry. To enter please follow instructions. 

First of all, for those of you with the burning question "Are you the girl on the cover?" The answer is no (though my husband insists I am just as lovely). The book jacket photo resulted from a mad search for ideas with which to replace the original jacket copy submitted to me by the publisher, a design which Ann Patchett -- the best-selling author who wrote a blurb for my book and who has since become a dear friend -- called “a train wreck...” a cover so “busy” that even my beloved hubby said he would never pick up a book with a cover like that. It featured an ornate church with two photos of me (as a nun and in Italy) surrounded by ornate loops. The only thing I liked about that jacket was the color, the blue of the new cover.

The new book jacket cover image is Jock Sturges’s photo of Hanneke Vierlingsberg, a young woman from the Netherlands, which I found in a limited edition volume of museum quality photos. My first choice, however, was Bernard Faucon’s “Chambre en Hiver” , the image of an empty room with a tree thrusting its branches through the room's only window (second row, extreme right). The publisher preferred the one of Vierlingsberg  (above)

The contest has generated fascinating responses from both perspectives. Most have liked and even loved it, a few have loathed it and said that if they hadn't read an excerpt they'd never have picked it as a book they'd want to read, and several were divided, liking both covers.  To enter all you have to do is link with my web site click the contact link, write "Gather win copy" in the subject line and tell me in a few simple sentences what you like or don’t like about the book jacket.No need to fret about what you write. I will draw the name at random on May 15 and will notify the winners. With their permission, I will announce these winners in the next newsletter. By entering this contest you will be added to my mailing list. Only one entry per Gatherer please. Please do not send me an entry through the Gather mail page but go to my website. Thanks and good luck! 
 

The original proposed book jacket.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                     
Beryl Singleton Bissell is the Author of The Scent of God: A Memoir  (Counterpoint NY, hardcover 2006, paper 2007) and Star Tribune Best of 2006 Minnesota Authors