The Rapture of Canaan was an Oprah's book club choice. It's a wonderful story from the point of view of a young girl born into a seriously strange fundamentalist Christian sect, with a patriarch who decrees punishments such as sleeping in an open grave. Reynolds does an excellent job of making even the most bizarre of her characters sympathetic to some extent. And the young girl's struggle to reconcile her faith with her growing passion for her 'prayer partner' is riveting.

Sheila Kay Adams writes from her heart and heritage. Born of six generations of Appalachian ballad singers, she calls on family memories dating back to the Civil War to tell the story of two men and their love for the same woman in her novel MY OLD TRUE LOVE. The story is as haunting and forthright as the old Appalachian ballads that wind through it. Beautifully told and highly recommended.

THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALENE follows Maeve (later known as Mary of Magdala), Celtic daughter of nine witches, whore, slave, and priestess of Isis, as she searches for, finds, and follows her lost love Esus, otherwise known as Jesus of Nazareth.

An amazing book -- sometimes irritating, sometimes enchanting, always fascinating. An odd marriage of styles: brash, anachronistic, poetic, mystical. I was reminded strongly of Robert Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, with large doses of Marion Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON, and hints of Nikos Kazantsaki's ST.FRANCIS. Quite a combination, but it worked for me.