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Ink and Honey
Ink and Honey is the story of a sacred journey through the medieval French countryside with the sisters of Belle Cœur, a community of radically independent healers, visionaries, mystics and artisans who live by their wits and their prayers. Goscelin, the dedicated scribe, records her sisterhood’s stories, visions and prophecies in her community’s journal while surrounded by holy madness, suspicion and the imminent threat of death at the stake. The sisters guard a life-threatening secret as they navigate spiritual terrain where faith and creative passion forge the way to labyrinths and cathedrals, hidden rooms and honey drenched hives. This book is alive with women’s ancient wisdom and spiritual practices to inform our lives today.
516 pages, Paperback
First published December 26, 2012
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190 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 6, 2014
I really took my time with this book and savored it. It's about a community of women in the Middle Ages, they are Catholic but not quite at the orthodox level. Or, to say it another way...they are where we, as Church, should be. I was reminded, in some of the stories, of Hildegard of Bingen who lived a couple of hundred years earlier than this setting. I love women who buck the hierarchy!
It's about nature, friendship, caring for others, safeguarding timeless mysteries (herbs and writing)and being true to community, and a touch of magical good luck.
I laughed and cried, this is a moving telling of a time I know well through serious study and love of historical fiction.
This was a delightful read. Highly recommended.
It's about nature, friendship, caring for others, safeguarding timeless mysteries (herbs and writing)and being true to community, and a touch of magical good luck.
I laughed and cried, this is a moving telling of a time I know well through serious study and love of historical fiction.
This was a delightful read. Highly recommended.
April 9, 2014
I LOVED this book! It had all the elements of a favorite--- history, spirituality, daily lives of women, and plenty of introspection by the storyteller, whom I felt I truly got to know, heart to heart. I borrowed it from the library, but will probably need to OWN it!
July 11, 2016
Inspiring!!!
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January 14, 2014The author is a dear friend of mine, so I enjoyed the book tremendously. A big departure from many of my mysteries, but well written and enjoyable.
January 15, 2013
Love this so far. Magnificent spiritual read.
April 19, 2016
Dense and rich, this blew me away with its powerful portrayal of women seeking to serve God without committing to the church. The power of literacy, the unity of the body, the desire to bless others...these were all present without glossing over the inevitable jostlings that emerge in any intimate community.
The characterization was intense. And the sometime gaping chasm between the church's actions and what was seen as God's desires stretched, there was yet hope in the resilience of these women. The journal writing was at times painful to read (from the beginning there was a sense of ominous doom), I welcomed that it was written looking back rather than in the moment. The hindsight provided an ability to weave meaning into events that in the moment were probably simply difficult.
I finished reading this feeling challenged to desire to serve God more fervently in daily choices and truly fortunate to live in an age of literacy as well as acceptance of difference rather than persecution.
The characterization was intense. And the sometime gaping chasm between the church's actions and what was seen as God's desires stretched, there was yet hope in the resilience of these women. The journal writing was at times painful to read (from the beginning there was a sense of ominous doom), I welcomed that it was written looking back rather than in the moment. The hindsight provided an ability to weave meaning into events that in the moment were probably simply difficult.
I finished reading this feeling challenged to desire to serve God more fervently in daily choices and truly fortunate to live in an age of literacy as well as acceptance of difference rather than persecution.
October 25, 2014
Having just read an exquisite novel about the life of Hildegard von Bingen, I was looking forward to exploring similar subject matter with "Ink and Honey."
Unfortunately, I had to give up after about 80 pages. The narrative was heavy and plodding – seemed to be taking forever for the story to actually go anywhere. There were a couple other annoyances with the writing style, such as the excessive use of similes, but all in all, I just didn't connect with the story or the narrator.
Shame, because it really is a lovely concept and the cover art is beautiful.
Unfortunately, I had to give up after about 80 pages. The narrative was heavy and plodding – seemed to be taking forever for the story to actually go anywhere. There were a couple other annoyances with the writing style, such as the excessive use of similes, but all in all, I just didn't connect with the story or the narrator.
Shame, because it really is a lovely concept and the cover art is beautiful.
June 26, 2013
I laud imagining a community of women finding their own way in the European Middle Ages, but was left puzzled by what was - for me - jarring references to herbs using the Linnean system, which was not created for almost 500 years after this book is set. Such anachronisms in historical fiction send me to greater awareness of others that I might have had an easier time overlooking. This is a lovingly told story, and I am glad I read it, which is why I also wish it to be different.
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August 4, 2025"Ink & Honey is an award winning historical novel. The novel tells the story of a Sisters of Belle Coeur, a fictional medieval sisterhood of Beguines, thereby introducing readers to the Beguine tradition. They were a group of laywomen, who lived in religious communities, who did not take formal vows. They were known for their independence, their charitable work and their mystical experiences." Excerpt from "Whispers of the Divine Feminine" written by Elinor Galbraith in a New Zealand contemplative spiritual director booklet.
The author, Sibyl Dana Reynolds is a deeply spiritual, insightful, creative woman and writer. These words cannot even describe the gifted person that she is.
The author, Sibyl Dana Reynolds is a deeply spiritual, insightful, creative woman and writer. These words cannot even describe the gifted person that she is.
September 16, 2022
An intimate look at a fictional community of women who live outside the accepted order of medieval society while serving God. Filled with three-dimensional characters and a compelling storyline, this book was a joy to read.
November 25, 2017
This is one of my very favourite books! I didn’t want it to end. I was entirely drawn in to the lives of these courageous women living so faithfully in such terrible times.
Want to read
October 3, 2023Suggested for 2024 PerFictionist Book Club
May 3, 2015
My response to the short story preview available to all ...
Set in thirteenth century rural France, historical fiction telling a tale of reflection on spiritual pilgrimage and growth of the Sisters of BelleCoeur.
As stated in the introduction, Goscelin, the dedicated scribe, records her sisterhood’s stories, visions and prophecies in her community’s journal. Beginning with a young girl experiencing a home life that drives her to escape, led by a visionary dream, Goscelin follows the unfolding of direction to a place of safety and spiritual calling.
Her first morning to wake at her safe haven of St Catherine's, Goscelin follows her inner curiousity up the stairs of a tall tower. Having only ever seen one book, she's in awe at discovering a room filled with ancient books and a monk working with intent over a table. Goscelin is soon welcomed into conversation with the benevolent Brother Paul who desires to teach her to read and write. "We must trust that our good Creator has called you here for a purpose...I can see how your body and spirit are in tune with the nature of the craft, in the same way the hummingbird knows the most succulent flowers." An honouring of her as a child of God, regardless of gender, when Goscelin responds, "Girls are not allowed..."
She blossoms in this encouragement as Brother Paul continues, "I would be denying God if I were not to teach you these things. One should never deny what God delivers..."
"I dipped the quill into the ink. Oh, I cannot find language to describe the first moment when I made marks upon the parchment! The scratching sound came from the quill. It was the instrument that played the music that became the song of my life...I would learn to play my music for God. For our Creator had surely led me that blessed morning..."
I am captivated by the graceful and descriptive writing of Goscelin's encounter and the outcome of her response to Spirit's call to follow. Just one of many that delight the spirit and the senses as I read and learned with Goscelin of the crafts of illumination and pigment creation, parchment making, bindery - all skills learned as Brother Paul's protegee.
"Like all pilgrims, I had left home carrying very little, fasting, praying, and seeking the mystery of the journey to grow my soul, to claim a new way of being. With his gentle presence rather than words, he invited me to stay and become his student."
How much can be offered from the overflow of a full spirit. And, likewise, lost in the overflow when one depends only on words.
An engrossing story as we follow Goscelin'sjourney to the Sisters of BelleCoeur.
Set in thirteenth century rural France, historical fiction telling a tale of reflection on spiritual pilgrimage and growth of the Sisters of BelleCoeur.
As stated in the introduction, Goscelin, the dedicated scribe, records her sisterhood’s stories, visions and prophecies in her community’s journal. Beginning with a young girl experiencing a home life that drives her to escape, led by a visionary dream, Goscelin follows the unfolding of direction to a place of safety and spiritual calling.
Her first morning to wake at her safe haven of St Catherine's, Goscelin follows her inner curiousity up the stairs of a tall tower. Having only ever seen one book, she's in awe at discovering a room filled with ancient books and a monk working with intent over a table. Goscelin is soon welcomed into conversation with the benevolent Brother Paul who desires to teach her to read and write. "We must trust that our good Creator has called you here for a purpose...I can see how your body and spirit are in tune with the nature of the craft, in the same way the hummingbird knows the most succulent flowers." An honouring of her as a child of God, regardless of gender, when Goscelin responds, "Girls are not allowed..."
She blossoms in this encouragement as Brother Paul continues, "I would be denying God if I were not to teach you these things. One should never deny what God delivers..."
"I dipped the quill into the ink. Oh, I cannot find language to describe the first moment when I made marks upon the parchment! The scratching sound came from the quill. It was the instrument that played the music that became the song of my life...I would learn to play my music for God. For our Creator had surely led me that blessed morning..."
I am captivated by the graceful and descriptive writing of Goscelin's encounter and the outcome of her response to Spirit's call to follow. Just one of many that delight the spirit and the senses as I read and learned with Goscelin of the crafts of illumination and pigment creation, parchment making, bindery - all skills learned as Brother Paul's protegee.
"Like all pilgrims, I had left home carrying very little, fasting, praying, and seeking the mystery of the journey to grow my soul, to claim a new way of being. With his gentle presence rather than words, he invited me to stay and become his student."
How much can be offered from the overflow of a full spirit. And, likewise, lost in the overflow when one depends only on words.
An engrossing story as we follow Goscelin'sjourney to the Sisters of BelleCoeur.
March 13, 2025
2025 update: I still look upon this book as one of my all-time favorites and one I remember well.
A haunting, charming story portraying a beguine-like spiritual community of women living in the 1200s. The writing captures the sensory experiences of the time, fleshes out each character’s personality and weaves a captivating story of their life of faith, joys and challenges in the face of the religious rigidity and the Inquisition told through the eyes of their scribe. They ways they bath their activities in prayer, love of God and sense of community are inspiring.
While I’m usually not very sad to see a book end because there are so many more great ones to read, I dragged out my reading of this one because I would like it to go on and on!
A haunting, charming story portraying a beguine-like spiritual community of women living in the 1200s. The writing captures the sensory experiences of the time, fleshes out each character’s personality and weaves a captivating story of their life of faith, joys and challenges in the face of the religious rigidity and the Inquisition told through the eyes of their scribe. They ways they bath their activities in prayer, love of God and sense of community are inspiring.
While I’m usually not very sad to see a book end because there are so many more great ones to read, I dragged out my reading of this one because I would like it to go on and on!
October 25, 2015
Reynolds brings to life the existence of medieval women living outside the proscribed norms. 20 years in the making, this book spoke to me--an agnostic--despite it's religious themes--mainly because the women's interpretation of living life religiously hewed to spiritual integrity rather than slavish devotion to the book. They questioned and defied the patriarchal power norms.
July 30, 2016
I absolutely loved this book! I know I will be re-reading it many times.
April 1, 2018
Ink and Honey
A must read. Journey with these women as you retell your own story of your spiritual passage. This book is a gift to the soul.
A must read. Journey with these women as you retell your own story of your spiritual passage. This book is a gift to the soul.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews