The Book Of Longings

Last year I stumbled onto Sue Monk Kidd. I am extremely late to the game but just happy to be here now. I have read a few of her books that have meant a great deal to me personally - specifically “The Dance Of The Dissident Daughter.”

So when I heard about this new book, “The Book Of Longings” I was excited. The premise is that in his early twenties Jesus met a girl and married her. This book isn’t about Jesus however, it is about Ana, it is Ana’s story. We get to re-live the stories of messiah, John The Baptist, Herod, Pilate and all of the characters from a completely different point of view and one that I believe is really important.

Sue Monk Kidd has been on a sacred feminine journey for some time now and she beautifully weaves in many of these themes into these characters. We get to hear the quiet prayer lives of the women including their prayers to Sofia. Ana is busy writing the stories of the s/heroes of the Hebrew faith and we even have an encounter with the goddess Isis.

Before I read the book, one of my friends said that it made Jesus seem more human. I would echo this. It enabled me to experience the story of Jesus from the ground. So often we can only see Jesus as Christ and I think that the gift of this book is the way we get to see Jesus as a real person, a day laborer, a family man, a husband and a person of great faith who lived his life in his calling.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

More About The Book:

In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.