This book proposes that though Hell seems a God-forsaken place, every scene, character and major image in Dante's Divine Comedy - Hell, Purgatory and Paradise - is associated with one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it were lurking in the shadows. Thus every one of the hundred cantos has a 'dedication' to a Person, and the cantos form overarching groups which are also so dedicated, making the whole poem like a vast symbolic cathedral, where every action has a secret divine dimension. These presences make it very doubtful that Dante really thinks God tortures people for eternity For readers who may be unfamiliar with Dante, the author has made a translation, abridged, in prose and verse, thus hoping to provide an introduction to Dante for those who do not know him and a new way of reading him for those who do. "The result of decades of reflection on Dante and the Trinity, Dante's Hidden God offers a fresh and challenging vision of the 'Commedia'. Offered as an invitation to read Dante, this inventive presentation of Dante's masterpiece will intrigue readers and gives an accessible account of Paul Priest's highly original ideas about the 'sacrato poema'." Dr Matthew Treherne, Senior Lecturer in Italian, University of Leeds

Rachel Wyse was a light in the world. Some amazing experiences in youth, including the instantaneous healing of a violent toothache and an encounter with Jesus at her mother's deathbed, left her with a quiet sense of wonder and beauty in everything -- people, nature, art -- that lasted all her long life:1864 in Salem, Massachusetts, to 1958 in Charlottesville, Virginia. She brought up her four children in Toronto, and afterwards travelled in Europe, Canada, Alaska, Mexico (well into her eighties), and once (alone, at 75) round the world. She was writing and painting all the time, often hurriedly, to show her family what she was seeing and doing, yet always looking and listening for the inner beauty. When she painted a portrait, even a quick sketch, the eyes always looked thoughtful. A flash of crimson bougainvillea was a marvel, but so was the old stone wall it grew beside. She was always lighthearted, fun to be with, not given to preaching. A man who once interviewed her on the radio thought she was like "a bird poised for flight." The life inside kept sparkling through. We first put this book together for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as she certainly would have wished, for she was devoted to them; but she also thought of the whole world as her family.

This book proposes that though Hell seems a God-forsaken place, every scene, character and major image in Dante's Divine Comedy - Hell, Purgatory and Paradise - is associated with one of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as it were lurking in the shadows. Thus every one of the hundred cantos has a 'dedication' to a Person, and the cantos form overarching groups which are also so dedicated, making the whole poem like a vast symbolic cathedral, where every action has a secret divine dimension. These presences make it very doubtful that Dante really thinks God tortures people for eternity For readers who may be unfamiliar with Dante, the author has made a translation, abridged, in prose and verse, thus hoping to provide an introduction to Dante for those who do not know him and a new way of reading him for those who do. "The result of decades of reflection on Dante and the Trinity, Dante's Hidden God offers a fresh and challenging vision of the 'Commedia'. Offered as an invitation to read Dante, this inventive presentation of Dante's masterpiece will intrigue readers and gives an accessible account of Paul Priest's highly original ideas about the 'sacrato poema'." Dr Matthew Treherne, Senior Lecturer in Italian, University of Leeds