Book Review - The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

A few weeks ago I wrote about the author talk I watched with Sue Monk Kidd. She was so thoughtful in her discussion and had obviously done a lot of research for the Biblical time period of her latest novel - The Book of Longings.  I really, really liked this book. The writing is beautiful and her characters are richly drawn. The story is compelling and from my point of view (not religious) - plausible.

So, what if Jesus had a wife?  Now, now. Don't leave yet. (cover blurb) Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history. She imagines a strong young woman named Ana - rebellious, ambitious, and scholarly. She pursues writing scrolls - narratives about neglected and silenced women. She's expected to marry on old widower (horrors), and a chance encounter with eighteen year old Jesus changes everything.

There's abuse, peril, fleeing, danger, and startling revelations. Let's just add that her dark sheep brother is Judas.  cover blurb - Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history. 

(cover blurb) The Book of Longings involves a young lady's bold struggle to realize passion and potential in a time when women were silenced...

p. 66 Ana - I tell you, there are times when words are so glad to be set free they laugh out loud and prance across their tablets and inside their scrolls. So it was with the words I wrote. They reveled till dawn. 

Revel with Ana and truly enjoy an excellent book...The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd.