Elizabeth Cunningham, The Passion of Mary Magdalen

The Passion of Mary Magdalen

Elizabeth Cunningham

Monkfish (FSG), April 2006, $29.95

ISBN: 0976684306

In Rome, the slave trader auctions off big "Red", who insists her name is Maeve Rhuard and that she is daughter to warrior witches. Though beaten and raped and kept in chains, the Celtic female has quite a mouth in five languages. The Domina buys Red to serve in her stable as a whore.

As she learns her trade, her red hair in two places and larger than life size attract customers, Maeve reflects on her lost love Esus, a man whose life she saved at the cost of her own. Shockingly, she also meets in her visions a despondent Isis, who wonders if her time is coming to an end. Once freed, Maeve heads to Palestine seeking her Esus, while also becoming a priestess-whore at the Temple of Isis Magdala, which thanks to her skills, soon becomes known to its customers as Temple Magdalen, the hottest workhouse in the Galilee. One day soon she will serve a special client in more ways than one.

Mary Magdalena's reputation as a whore is used as the basis for a deep biographical fiction novel that brings to life the first century Mediterranean area, especially in Rome and in Palestine. Maeve is a terrific protagonist from the moment she calls potential buyers names, and the story never slows down until the final fig tree jamboree with the Gospels. Ironically though, many will condemn Elizabeth Cunningham's work as blasphemy and irreverent, but the well written and entertaining THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN is actually virtuous, spiritual and relevant, as God's tent is inclusive with room for everyone.