Customer Reviews

The Passion of Mary Magdalen: A Novel (Maeve Chronicles)

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Full disclosure: I am a friend of the incomparable Elizabeth Cunningham and an enthusiast for this novel which I was privileged to read in draft form. It's a huge relief to adore a novel by a friend - I can tell you it doesn't happen much. I truly believe this one should make it big.

What I think Elizabeth is doing here is to take her knowledge of and reverence for Christianity - she comes from a line of I think eleven Episcopal priests - and her joy in neo-paganism, and see what the two have to say to each other: literally. What would happen if these apparent opposites actually made love to each other?

Personally I think that the world is in one of those major religious transition periods, comparable to the period when Christianity began, when new religions are being created and old ones transformed. This is more than a novel - it's a contribution to creating 21st century religion. I love that Elizabeth is able to be both reverent and irreverent, bawdy and holy at the same time. I don't know of anyone who has done that so well. When not writing novels she loves and sings the blues, and a Bessie Smith kind of raunchiness and deep humanity comes through in this novel.

The book is a curiosity because it is a fantasy (I'm sure Elizabeth doesn't think the historical Mary Magdalen was an immortal Celtic priestess) and yet is full of convincing historical detail. I haven't read too many that do that well - Vonda McIntyre's "The Moon and The Sun" comes to mind. There are many moments of delight in this book and of deep insight about the nature of love.

But if you are attached to your preconceptions, whether it's your Christianity, your neo-paganism, your secular mistrust of all religion, or your purist take on historical novels, be prepared to be shocked. In this case, it will be worth it. We have a new world to create out there and this is sweet and exhilarating food for the journey.

Elizabeth Cunningham has created an amazing historic chronicle with this book. Characters are fully, wondrously human. Locations are alive with the sights, scents, sounds of that time millennia ago when Jesus walked this earth.

Maeve Rhuad is a flame haired princess / priestess of the Celtic Isles when she meets Yeshua, called Esus by the Celts. He's traveled to her land to learn Druidic mysteries, but finds a soulmate, a woman he will passionately love for all time. With youthful joy, they call themselves, "eternal twins in the great starry womb" of the universe.

Life's unpredictable difficulties separate the two devoted lovers. Yeshua returns to the Holy Land to continue his quest, serving the One God, and Maeve is dragged to Rome in chains by conquerors who sell her into slavery and prostitution. The Vine and Fig Tree - an omen of her future life with Yeshua -- is a high-class establishment. All clients are welcomed equally because every stranger could be a god or an angel. Life is actually pleasant for a time, but Maeve has two large problems. She's determined to find her beloved Yeshua, and can't keep her sassy mouth shut. Maeve can cuss, bluster, and converse in five languages. Her bold nature ends Maeve's time in Rome and she's sold into slavery. Throughout this dark period, she gains the support and devotion of a Proletarian, Joseph of Arimathea.

Years pass. Maeve is freed from slavery and heads for Jerusalem to search for Yeshua, Esus, her lover, now known as Jesus of Nazareth. From Jerusalem, Maeve travels to the green hills of Galilee to Nazareth, and finally the port city of Magdala. It's in Magdala that she regains her full power as a priestess. With the help of friends and followers, she founds the Temple Magdalen. Here, we're drawn deep into the private lives of biblical icons: Joseph of Arimathea; Mary, mother of Jesus; Lazarus, Mary, and Martha; the Twelve followers of Jesus; John of the burning eyes, the Baptist; and Yeshua, Savior of the Jews, beloved man with the wonderful laugh. Maeve's memories of these people are not reverent or respectful - all have human foibles - but her narrative is often surprising, touching, and tender.

Jesus struggles in his efforts to draw a fine line between being human and divine. The only thing he doesn't question is his love for Maeve, his wife, judged unclean by Jewish law. Fellow Jews, Apostles, family, devoted followers, enemies and friends resent his devotion to a prostitute. Both Yeshua and Maeve know and believe that love is stronger than death, and in their case it is.

Based on historic writings, Cunningham fills in the lost years of Yeshua's life not chronicled in the Bible. But this is a story well and lovingly told, of a man whose fate was to die for all humanity and of the gentile woman who loved him through life and beyond. Lover, husband, healer, miracle worker, teller of parables, and King of Kings, Jesus was first a man. This is a fascinating book, historically and in every other way.

Though not for the squeamish or for those easily offended by what might be construed as blasphemy, this book brings to life the ancient world like no other tale I have read, and introduces readers to a new facet of Jesus Christ, that of the divine lover of Mary Magdalene and, through her, the world. The story is told through the eyes of Mary (Maeve), a celtic priestess/goddess who is Jesus' spiritual other half. Her voice as narrator is one of the most striking features of this work; she is simultaneously reverent and irreverent, ancient and modern, but above all she is immediate and you often feel that she is right there with you, confiding in you her secrets as if you were intimate friends. Despite not being a christian or caring much for pagan religions, I was deeply moved by this novel, which is indeed a story of passion.

I have to admit that when I picked up the book I wasn't expecting much. Another take off from the furor of the Da Vinci Code . . blah blah.
Boy was I wrong! This marvellous book in the humorous vein of Heller's 'God Knows' and with an sense of feminist magic to its interpretation of the life of Mary of Magdalene is one of the most entertaining books I've read this year. Starting with Maeve on the auction block it has held my attention through almost all its pages (OK I did skip a bit in her life with Paulina because I couldn't wait for her to get to the Galilee). I'm about 50 pages from the end and (not being of the Christian faith) have found the book utterly fascinating and completely inoffensive. I don't enjoy books that harp on religiosity and this one does not. It may not be for the devout believer. Its much more focussed on spirituality and the validity of the many religions around the world and on the possibility of multiple interpretations of the new testatment. If you think you have an open mind and a good sense of humor this one will be a keeper!

This is one of the most powerful
and beautifully written books I have ever encountered, and
brings to mind the powerful and beautiful women I have had
the honor of encountering in my lifetime. I hope you will
read it. I also hope you will be able to meet the author in
person, when she visits a city near you on her book tour.
She is a real delight!

You thought people got angry about "The Da Vinci Code?" Just wait. Elizabeth Cunningham's new novel about Mary Magdalen will likely have many of the same folks hopping mad.

"The Passion of Mary Magdalen" is the second volume in Cunnigham's Magdalen trilogy, though enjoyment of this middle book isn't contingent upon reading the first one, "Daughter of the Shining Isle."

In the first book, Cunningham introduces Magdalen as a Celt, born and raised on the magical isle of Tir na mBan. If thinking of Magdalen as Celtic strains credibility, remember, this is a novel: a work of fiction. Maeve Rhuad, Magdalen's Celtic name, eventually comes to study at the Druid College, where she meets and falls in love with Jesus. Both of them flee the college in peril of their lives after they are perceived as having tampered with the ancient mysteries of a Druid rite. They separate, and Maeve ends up sold as a slave in Rome.

This book begins with Maeve on her hands and knees at the slave auction. When the auctioneer nuzzles his nose in her hindquarters, the feisty Maeve farts in his face. This attracts the attention of another buyer, a whorehouse madam, who sees promise in Maeve's actions: "There are men in this town who will pay good money to be humiliated like that." (p. 7) Maeve goes to work in her owner's brothel, where her fellow whores nickname her Red because of her flaming tresses.

However, don't expect this turn of events to set her up as the breast-beating penitent of the gospel story, who comes to the savior guilt-ridden over her transgressions of the flesh. Though being a slave is abhorrent to her, Maeve doesn't see sexual activity as a sin. In fact, it is in the whorehouse that she begins to realize she could use the intensity of the sexual experience for healing, and become "a conduit of some wild force, the mediator of it, the priestess." (p.27) And it is here that she first begins to realize, somewhat to her chagrin, that she is being drawn to the Goddess Isis, who like the God of Jesus, seems to be everywhere.

The book is aptly titled, because passion can indicate excitement, but can also mean suffering, as in the passion of Christ. And Maeve encounters plenty of both, while never losing her determination to be reunited with her beloved Jesus. As the story moves forward, she is sold again, this time to Paulina Claudii, the cruel daughter of a high-born Roman.

Cunningham has done her historical homework. The book contains nuggets of information on the time period: the hierarchy of slaves in a household, the status of women when they are faced with divorce, Roman style, the concept of sacred prostitution, and the cult of Isis, who was originally an Egyptian Goddess but whose worship was popular in Rome among all classes, from the high born to the whores and slaves.

The call of this Goddess, along with Maeve's insistence on finding her beloved Jesus, comprise the book's two main threads. Eventually Maeve becomes a priestess of Isis, establishing in the village of Magdala a temple of sacred prostitutes that becomes a haven for all strangers who come by in need of healing. In an interesting twist on the gospel parable, one fateful night a Samaritan brings to the temple a battered and beaten stranger he's found on the road. At long last, Maeve holds her beloved in her arms.

As the story unfolds, it is very hard not to like Cunningham's engaging Maeve/Magdalen character, who always leads with her heart, even when it gets her into trouble. Though the author follows the conventional gospels, her inclusion of Maeve in the gospel stories is her own design. Written in the first person, by turns irreverent and poetic, the book pulses with an eros that is true to the original meaning of the word as "life force." The reader sees all sides of life; joy and sorrow, love and hate, the pettiness and the stupidity as well and the power and the glory, often related with a wicked sense of humor. The apostles are human, with their own weaknesses and difficulties. If the Christian writer Annie Lamott wrote a book on Mary Magdalen, it would probably be very much like Cunningham's Maeve.

In the end, this is a love story. An old seer had prophesied to Maeve that she and Jesus would be lovers, but not of each other; lovers of the world. And love is what comes across most strongly in this enjoyable book. Just remember that Maeve's story as related here won't resemble the one you may have heard as a child. Rest assured this is not your mother's Mary Magdalen.

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 his life 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 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, 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.

Harriet Klausner

Tired of pious, one-dimensional, suitably repentant Mary Magdalens who sit at the feet of the Master, worshipfully gazing upward? Wish our Mary Magdalen had a bit more, um, spice and verve? Well, let there be much rejoicing and dancing in the streets: Elizabeth Cunningham's novel about her fiery Celtic Mary Magdalen (whose name is really Maeve, thank you very much) has hit the bookshelves. At last we get to read more about this passionate and uppity heroine who reminds us that the Divine Feminine is the true partner and equal of the Son of Man, and who delivers a rousing antidote to the cultural shame around being a woman. The Passion of Mary Magdalen is so much more than just a great read (although it's such a page-turner you'll wish it could go on forever): it is a whole-body experience.

I remember, seven years ago, reading a newspaper review of Elizabeth Cunningham's _Daughter of the Shining Isles_, and being instantly captivated by its Mary-Magdalene-as-Celtic-priestess premise. I rushed right out to buy it and liked it a lot. The book promised to be the first in a trilogy, and I eagerly awaited book two. After waiting a few years, I gave up, figuring I'd never get to find out what happened to Maeve Rhuad and her destined lover, Jesus.

Well.

Maeve is back, and every page of this book is stunningly worth the wait. Cunningham's writing, which was already quite good, has taken a turn for the better. She still excels at blending bawdy, down-to-earth humor with transcendent beauty, and she's developed a knack for knowing exactly when each is needed in the story, weaving them together so well that the story never feels trashy, never ponderous, but some perfect sensual alchemy.

The first half of _The Passion of Mary Magdalene_ follows Maeve through her life as a slave and prostitute in Rome, followed by the second half, in which she gains her freedom, comes into her own as a priestess and businesswoman, and finds her soul mate once again. Maeve and Jesus's stormy relationship is written very well--their clashes are believable and heartbreakingly human, and if there were ever a woman who could hold her own as the wife of Jesus without falling into his shadow, Maeve is it.

Throughout it all, there are persistent themes of rejoicing in the body and the earth, honoring the sacred (by whatever name we choose), and the bonds between lovers and friends.

And any book that manages to include both fart jokes and a beautiful take on the Isis/Osiris myth, without being jarring in any way, is good by me.

This middle book of Cunningham's trilogy is a real delight to read. Maeve has grown to a competent women, insisting on her own sovereignty despite more than difficult life experiences! I love Cunningham's knowledge and profound mixture of theology and paganism. And she throws in a lot of wine and many cats. Nothing could be better. I felt very sad when I reached the best possible ending for this book. I wanted to read more and hope she is a fast writer for Volume 3. Thank you, Elizabeth Cunningham.