Daughter of God [Mass Market Paperback]

Lewis Perdue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2001

The Vatican has lost its most closely held secret--irrefutable proof of a woman Messiah named Sophia. Born in the Holy Land in 310 AD, Sophia was known for performing healing miracles. Her divinity threatened early Christian dogma and she was executed as a girl by Church authorities.

In the present, Zoe Ridgeway, an art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband Seth, where she expects to purchase the estate of a German art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction, she and Seth are drawn into a thousand-year-old web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of Sophia--and all the powerful forces who seek to protect their patriarchies from a divinely feminine truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Nazi plunder of Europe's art and antiquities during WWII sets the stage for a thriller spun around a religious coverup so devastating it could topple the Vatican and crush Western religion. A dying, repentant Nazi, Willi Max, calls renowned American art broker/historian Zoe Ridgeway, to Switzerland, where he reveals his cache of looted treasure, hiring her to catalogue and return it to the owners or heirs. Shortly after she tells her husband, Seth--an ex-L.A. cop turned comparative religion professor at UCLA--about the exciting job, she is kidnapped from their Zurich hotel room. The dismissive Swiss police do little to search for Zoe, so Seth takes charge when he reads that Willi Max died when a fire demolished his mansion just hours after Zoe met with him. Seth discovers that the destroyed treasures are only a fraction of the spoils stashed in a booby-trapped salt mine since WWII. One religious relic's very existence was kept secret by the Vatican for centuries: it's a burial shroud clearly showing the image of a young girl, a second messiah. This "daughter of God" was killed, along with her entire village, in the time of Constantine, because her sex and her healing powers threatened the fledgling Christian religion. When the Nazis found out about the shroud, Hitler used the relic to blackmail Pope Pius into silence about Nazi atrocities. Seth has sole access to the salt mine and soon the head of Vatican intelligence, the Russian mafiya and other sinister agents give murderous chase. Perdue's speedy tale of greed and power boasts strong heroes and villains with credible motivation. He steps nimbly between Switzerland and L.A., putting Zoe in peril, but with the wits to save herself. A valiant cadre of aging war survivors add color to the cast. Agent, Natasha Kem. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Former investigative reporter Perdue spent years tracing missing art all over Europe. The value of that experience is made clear in this edge-of-your-seat thriller about Sophia, a female Messiah born three centuries after Christ. Sophia's very existence, her healing miracles, and the fact that she was attracting a serious following, added up to a major threat to religious dogma treating women as strictly inferior beings. The threat ended with her execution--or so Church authorities thought--and her existence remained a well-kept Vatican secret until Hitler's art looters stumbled on it. Fast forward to the present. Zoe Ridgeway, art expert and broker is in Switzerland to handle an amazing collection for a dying German. The German's death is speeded up by outside forces including Russian gangsters, American agents, and a Cardinal-who-would-be-Pope, all of whom seek the proof of Sophia's existence. Zoe is kidnapped by the Russians and almost murdered before matters reach a surprising finale. Perdue makes superb use of apocalyptic themes in what is an outstanding thriller on every level. This one will cause a lot of sleepless nights. Budd Arthur --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (April 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812589718
• ISBN-13: 978-0812589719
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I studied physics and biology in college and have written 20 published books which have sold more than 4 million copies. My most recent novel is Perfect Killer, published in Sept. 2005. Other novels include The Da Vinci Legacy and Daughter of God. A complete list of my books can be found at LewisPerdue.com I have taught journalism at UCLA and Cornell, founded four companies including a wine company a magazine and two technology firms and been a top aide to a U.S. Senator and a governor, run political races for Congress, worked as a Washington correspondent (Ottaway/Dow-Jones, States News Service), a columnist for Gannett, The Wall Street Journal Online, CBS Marketwatch and TheStreet.Com. I write book reviews for Barron's. I received my B.S. (1972) with distinction from Cornell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner, February 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Daughter of God (Hardcover)

Lewis Perdue's new novel, "Daughter of God", is a deftly written fast moving thriller. The tightly constructed plot and subplots carefully interwoven with dark historical secrets and them of power, greed and deception offer a vividly descriptive and stunningly good read.

The novel concerns an ancient document, which holds a secret capable of changing history and rocking the course of Western religion. The secret involves a proof of a female messiah, who lived during the reign of Constantine and who was murdered to preserve the religious image of God as male and protect the power of the Holy Roman Empire. It's the story of fine arts broker, Zoe Ridgeway, and her husband, Seth, a professor of philosophy and comparative religion, who find themselves caught in a web of terror and deception Their hair raising expeiences are filled with unexpected twists and turns right up to the shocking ending.

Perdue has well researched his theses and raise some disturbing questions which the reader will want to ponder. All in all, this book is great fun to read and a much bigger book than its 320 pages.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better the Second time, October 27, 2003

By 

M. Mills "libraryangel" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Daughter of God (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book when it first came out and found it a very deep and enjoyable read.

I decided to pick it up again after reading about all the controversy. I found that the author did an incredibly deep job of exploring the role of the Goddess in modern religion -- far better than any other book. Perdue used his characters to explore the various facets of the subject and even the tough issues of how people of faith can keep believing even when they find their faith may have some false parts.

While this was a well-told, fast-moving thriller, it offered a lot more meat than the average novel and helped me think about areas of my own faith and how religion shapes and is shaped by society.

I can't think of any other book I have read this year that was SO worth the time I spent.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kept me up all night, October 2, 2003

By 

Carla Miller (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daughter of God (Mass Market Paperback)

This book would not let go of me. I started it last night and I just had to finish it. I've got a serious case of sleep deprivation today because of that, but it's a worthy fatigue.

As a historian and freelance book editor here in the Chicago area, my threshold is remarkably high, but Daughter of God went over the bar with room to spare.

There are really two books here, a well-fleshed-out, non-fiction book about women and religion and a thriller where the action just didn't stop.

The historian in me loved the history, especially the well-reasoned rationale Perdue makes for why the Goddess was replaced by Big Daddy in the sky. He ties it in with the rise of agriculture, the demise of the hunter-gatherer culture and the availability of excess food.

I've never seen his hypothesis before, but find it well-founded on fact. I'd encourage him to develop it as a paper to be submitted to a scholarly journal.

The escapist in me loved the action and the very different and creative methods employed.

Finally, the editor in me loved the characters, how they came alive, lived, struggled with both internal and external elements and changed as life pressed upon them.