I was SO intrigued by this one and also a little uncertain about reading it— a fictional story of the wife of Jesus— would it be sacrilegious? Would it feel inappropriate? Would it be bizarre? I went into it open minded and curious, and I LOVED it. It was so much more focused on Ana than Jesus, so it never felt sacrilegious to me, and instead felt rich with nuance and cultural relevance and depth. It was so thoroughly researched, felt really authentic, and was just a beautiful and well told story of a woman with fiery dreams and passion and a voice, in a time when women weren’t allowed to have such freedom. I thought it was an incredible read and it made me cry at the end (the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made for me will never fail to make me an emotional puddle) and I truly savored it. (ps— TW for references to rape/ sexual abuse, as was sadly common back then and in the day of women as property and concubines)