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By Octavia Randolph on June 28, 2016
Format:
Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Mary’s
tale will attract and hold the attention of young readers – and even this adult
(and demanding) one. The story begins on the eve of Jesus’ birth, then
backtracks to that of Herod’s excesses, and the struggles of Mary’s parents,
Anne and Joachim. We are there for Mary’s birth, girlhood, and adolescence, and
witness her development into a virtuous yet occasionally rebellious and
questioning adolescent, which gives her character depth and believability. She
initially rails against her arranged marriage to the much-older Joseph, but at
length accepts it with good grace. No angel of Annunciation serves as the
harbinger of the special nature of the child Mary is to bear, and in fact her
wedding day and the period that follows is very much presented as a typical
Jewish marriage of the time. (It is a visiting blue-eyed Roman legionnaire who
presents the only inkling to young Mary that she may be destined for greatness,
an interesting and even arresting touch in the narrative.) Period details and
Hebrew terms and customs are deftly integrated into the narrative, and Mary
herself is presented as an intelligent, spirited, kind, and most of all, thoughtful
actor in the immense drama she is central to. It takes ability and imagination
to breathe life into a story as well-known as this one, and the author rewards
every moment spent by the reader, providing a fresh, vital, and oftentimes
surprising retelling of one of history’s most revered personalities.
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