His Blood Like Tears — Gwen Hunter

In this unique novel, Gwen Hunter spins a tale centered on Mary, the Magdalene, telling -- with a fiction writer's pen -- a story of life, death, violence, and forgiveness.

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When Mary of Magdala is healed, she remembers nothing about her years possessed by seven demons. What she recalls is the death of her family -- supposedly at the hands of Romans. Homeless, a widow, she joins the traveling disciples of Jesus of Nazareth and develops friendships with all of the followers, but especially with Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot.

Thaddeus is looking for a teacher with knowledge greater than his own, a man with wisdom and purpose, but he never expects his life or lifestyle to change. When he finds Jesus, the new Rebbe is a man like none other, with a mission and a ministry that opens vistas, relationships, and a future Thaddeus had never imagined.

Simon the Zealot is a man of violence, vengeance, and hatred. When he meets Jesus, he is transformed, finds a new purpose, and becomes a new man. When he meets Magdalene, he finds friendship and a final healing.

But the disciples and Magdalene are all too human. Though they travel and learn from the great Teacher, they are not completely free of the shadows in their pasts, until they face the greatest betrayal and horror of all -- the death of their friend on the cross.