Publisher's Weekly review of THE PROPHET'S MANTLE

Below are snippets of the Publisher's Weekly review of the novel. I cut out the spoiler alerts, because it's just rude to give the people a whole plot summary before they have a chance to read it for themselves.

"A retelling of the New Testament from a woman’s point of view, this novel is not precisely The Gospel According to Miriam — although that exists as a (missing, rewritten, and assigned to male authorship) text within the text. Rather it is the more personal story of Miri . . ."

"In most ways retreading familiar ground, albeit through the eyes of a sympathetic protagonist, the author is most radical in her treatment of Simon Peter . . ."

"Those not shocked by Peter’s revised role are likely to be offended instead by Miri’s eventual decision to not only forgive him but keep his secrets. She also replaces Judas as lone traitor with a conspiracy known to Jesus. Likely to appeal mostly to those who already believe but want to imagine how women fit into the story, the story raises a few hard questions but stops well short of answering any. "

A good review, for a first novel. The last line may have been meant as a criticism, but raising hard questions is exactly what this author intended to do, not answer questions. This is a work of fiction after all, not a biography or a theological tome.