Ana is adamant in her refusal but her permission is not necessary. She will have her voice.Īna’s dreams tilt when her father arranges a marriage for her to a man many years older. Ana is idealistic and wants a very different life for herself. Her father does provide her with pens and papyrus but he is not fully aware of the rage burning inside her, her longing for freedom and the desire to express her thoughts openly and without fear of reprisal. Ana is different from other girls and is a constant frustration to her mother and father. She loves to hear the news he brings from beyond the walls protecting her. He walks in the company of zealots and brings shame to the family.

He is rebellious with ideas to quash the power of Rome. Her step brother Judas causes the family much pain. Ana is from a wealthy family, living in Galilee, with most of her life sheltered from the outside world. Encouraged by her wayward and forward-thinking aunt, Yaltha, Ana writes in secret about women and their lives, about the hardships faced. I understood from the beginning that I wanted to write the story from a novelist’s perspective and not a religious one”Īna is an inquisitive, forthright young lady living in a society where women did not question their lot in life. The premise of a married Jesus evokes a fascinating question: how would the world be different if Jesus had wed and his wife was part of the story?

“What mattered to me was imagining that Jesus had a wife. The Book of Longings is a fascinating and incredibly researched piece of work, written passionately and from the heart by Sue Monk Kidd… It is described as ‘a glorious evocation of a time and a place where astounding events unfolded, and of one woman’s fate when she fights to make her voice heard‘ and is a book that explores the possibility of Jesus having married. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd will be published April 21st with Tinder Press. Taking Ana on a journey she could never have imagined, The Book of Longings is a glorious evocation of a time and a place where astounding events unfolded, and of one woman’s fate when she fights to make her voice heard. A chance encounter with the eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything: his ideas and his passion are intoxicating. Ana is expected to marry an elderly widower to further her father’s ambitions, a prospect that horrifies her.

Raised in a wealthy family in Galilee, she is sheltered from the brutality of Rome’s occupation of Israel. Ana is a rebellious young woman, a gifted writer with a curious, brilliant mind, who writes secret narratives about the neglected and silenced women around her.

The longing sue monk kidd