Martha and Mary (Paperback)

The action of this novel takes place in first-century Palestine. It begins in Bethany, a small town near Jerusalem that is home to Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, all lifelong friends of Jesus of Nazareth. These three siblings are unaware that their village will be the setting of one of the most extraordinary events described in the Holy Scriptures: the resurrection of Lazarus. Inspired by the enduring beauty of Biblical texts and based on a lengthy study of Jewish daily life in first-century Judea, this book attempts to offer realistic human portraits of two women whom we now primarily know as cultural and religious archetypes. It explores the inner journeys of two individuals often divided by their very different temperaments and personalities but inexorably bound by their strong sense of familial love and their common struggle to come to terms with the challenging new message preached by Jesus and what it will mean for their family. Martha and Mary have come down to us as diametrically opposed archetypal figures who transcend exclusively Christian interpretations: one as a wholly contemplative spirit and the other as a self-sacrificing soul bound by what she perceives as an obligation to devote herself to the mundane affairs others expect her to shoulder. The book is structured in two parts: each of which focuses on one of the two heroines of the story and narrates events from her individual perspective. Together they provide an intimate portrait of the lives of two exceptional women from their childhood and inner struggles with their roles as women raised in a closed, patriarchal society to their mature commitment to Christ's revolutionary message.