Blood and Silk, by Carol McKay

Review by Laurie Rezanoff

"The Hidden Love Story of Mary of Magdala and Jesus of Nazareth" as told mostly by Mary of Magdala (also known as Mary Magdalene), the wife of Jesus. There will be people who staunchly disbelieve that Mary and Jesus were married, let alone had children of their own. This is yet another version of historical novels currently out there revealing this buried truth. I believe Jesus lived as an ordinary man, with extraordinary gifts and destiny. Why wouldn't he and Mary Magdala have married and had children? It is interesting what the politics and power mongers of the day did to suppress their real life and who they truly were.

I enjoyed learning about the political, religious and spiritual realities of just prior to, and within, the First Century CE in Roman Judea. There were times when I struggled with the weight of the historical facts and figures that outweighed the storytelling. Personally not knowing much about the political aspect and names of the Roman Empire leaders, nor the Jewish language, made it difficult to understand some of the layers of meaning within this novel. It also made the character's conversations with one another sound more like university lectures than personal conversation from time to time.

It was worth the struggle to find out what happened after Jesus' death, and what ensued for many decades to his siblings, parents, wife and children, as well as his disciples. It is interesting to see, again, what power, greed and thirst for leadership will do to people, and how far they will go to cover up the truth of what happened 2000 years ago.

An interesting look into "what might have been" as imagined by author Carol McKay, and supported by detailed research of the history of the times. As an Astrologer myself, I was glad to read the addition of the role of astrologers and other "healers" in her story that we take for granted in our modern times.