"The best one yet!"--Catherine MacCoun, author of On Becoming an
Alchemist
As usual, Cunningham provides plenty of juicy controversy embodied by
vivid characters and expressed in vigorous action, all in crisply drawn
biblical settings.--Booklist
Gleefully iconoclastic. For that dwindling demographic with a sense of
humor about religion, Maeve's profane skewering of the all-too-human
foibles of the Church fathers is a hoot. Kirkus Reiews
Elizabeth Cunningham has again delved into her fabulous treasure trove
of impeccable research, and come up with gold. In Bright Dark Madonna,
her interweaving of Biblical-Celtic themes brings the first century to
life with unexpected freshness and many surprises. --Katherine Neville,
author of The Eight and The Fire
After playing an intimate role in the mystery of the Resurrection, what
is left for Maeve, the Celtic Mary Magdalen? Never a follower, will she
emerge as a leader of the early church? Will she retire quietly to
mother a sacred bloodline? Will she set sail for France to proselytize
and go spelunking? The answer: all and none of the above. No sooner does
Maeve open her mouth to preach the gospel her way than a fierce debate
begins about what to do with the child she is carrying. Maeve has her
own ideas about where best to raise the savior's scion. When she returns
to Temple Magdalen, the holy whorehouse she founded, a custody battle of
biblical proportions ensues. Maeve, her infant daughter Sara, and Jesus'
mother flee to the remote Taurus Mountains where they live in hiding
among the Galatians until a mysterious man is dumped on their doorstep
more dead than alive. When Maeve discovers the identity of the man she
has healed, she is appalled and determined to keep her family's secret.
But Maeve has reckoned without the will of her brilliant, angry
adolescent daughter who resolves to find out the truth about her
father--for herself.
Required reading for fans and accesible to those new to The Maeve
Chronicles, Bright Dark Madonna takes the reader on a breathtaking
journey from the temple porticoes of Jerusalem, to the Temple of Artemis
in Ephesus, to the south of France, and, as always, to the treacherous,
beautiful terrain of the human heart.
