On Living Stone: Salome’s Story

Kaufman crafts a rich backstory for the biblical Salome, mother of the apostles John and James, with the thrilling latest in the Women of the Way Series (after Before the King). Set along the banks of the Gennesaret River in first-century Israel, the novel follows Salome from her childhood as the only daughter of a widowed stonemason. With her sharp tongue and wild spirit, she’s dismissed by her fellow villagers as unmarriageable, but her father sees in her the potential to become the mother of “mighty men.” After falling in love with a fisherman, she raises John and James amid the social unrest stirred up by Roman control of Judaea. Rumors start to spread of a carpenter’s son from Nazareth baptizing followers in the name of God, and then her sons commit to following the new prophet. Salome is caught at the center of a divided community and must decide whether to also devote herself to the charismatic preacher. Kaufman vividly evokes the chaos of an ancient Israel torn apart by religious and political strife and draws out the emotional stakes of discipleship as Jesus challenges everything Salome once thought to be true. The result is a unique and captivating resurrection of a little-known woman of scripture. (Jan.)