For fans of The Red Tent and The Book of Longings. A lush, evocative reimagining of one of history's most misunderstood women-a story of desire, judgment, and the radical power of a second chance.
In a world governed by the unyielding weight of stone and law, she is a woman caught between two lives.
Born into a modest Jewish settlement on the fringes of the powerful Greco-Roman world, her life is mapped out for her until Othniel bar-Ismael, a wealthy merchant from Jerusalem, claims her as his prize. But the transition from a village girl to a fine lady is a gilded cage. Beneath the silks and the grandeur of Jerusalem, she finds only a hollow existence-until she meets a man who sees her not as a merchant's possession, but as a soul.
One choice, born of a desperate need to be known, changes everything.
Finding herself at the center of a storm of public shame and ancient law, she must face the consequences of her heart's transgression. But when a moment of unprecedented mercy interrupts her execution, she is forced to navigate the fragmented memories of her past to build a future she never thought possible.
A lyrical, deeply moving exploration of the choices that define us and the grace that allows us to begin again.