"An assured tour de force of passion. The power with which it reclaims spiritual and sexual strength for women cannot be ignored."-Time Out London "Michele Roberts is intelligent and passionate; by her rich use of symbols and metaphor she transforms feminist clich into something alive and moving."-The Times Literary Supplement "Roberts' deft pacing highlights the intense, sensual beauty of her prose. Hardly a page goes by without a sentence of such lovely cadence that a reader must pause to consider it."-The Washington Post Book World "Roberts has a gift for making the ordinary extraordinary."-People In the parched soil of Provence, a fifth gospel has been discovered: Mary Magdalene's account of Jesus' teachings and her vital relationship with him. It is a book of revelation, for it unveils a new Christianity, one that embraces the female equally with the male and acknowledges-and celebrates-the spirituality of women. It is also a passionate story of love and loss, of separation and rebirth, centered on the Magdalene as the wellspring of womanhood. In this dramatic tale Michele Roberts offers a brilliant and moving vision of Jesus that is also startlingly modern in its conclusions. Perhaps most importantly, it confirms her stature as one of the most talented and exciting writers of her generation. Michele Roberts is the author of eleven novels, including Reader, I Married Him and Daughters of the House, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and was winner of the WHSmith Literary Award. She lives in England.