Antoinette May, Pilate's Wife

Pilate's Wife

Antoinette May

Morrow, November 2006, $24.95

ISBN 0061128651

Claudia Procula grew up with two mothers; her biological one Selene and her second cousin Agrippina. Her grandfather was the Divine Augustus, and her father was second in command to the rightful heir to the Roman Empire. In other words, she grew up in a house of privilege and plenty of love. She also has the gift to foretell the future, and secretly hides her deep fidelity to Isis.

At twenty, Claudia marries the Roman Magistrate of Jerusalem Pontius Pilate, while back home her family falls from grace to disgrace. In hostile Jerusalem, the overly ambitious Pilate works on his position to better himself, while his wife has a lover Holtan. Claudia sees the future of Jesus on the crucifixion, and she hears in her vision the words "suffered under Pontius Pilate", but has no idea how to prevent the tragedy, even though she has access to the Jewish King Herod. Seeing does not mean changing.

This is an interesting work of biographical fiction that brings to life the Roman Empire in the first century. The segment involving Jesus is the most fascinating, as the audience sees a different perspective to the events leading to and after the crucifixion. However, the novelization is at its best when Antoinette May fills in unknown or less known gaps of the times. Still, this is an excellent look at the Roman Empire at a time when organized religions are in various disarray.