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The Touch of the Magdalene-bookcover

By: Diana Barsham

The Touch of the Magdalene

Pages: 270 Ratings: 4.7
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Mary Magdalene was the intimate companion of Christ, a woman who knew more about him and his extraordinary mission than anyone else. The Magdalene herself remains something of a mystery. After proclaiming Christ’s resurrection from the dead, this colourful woman disappears from the story of the new church and vanishes from its history. Legend has it that she spent the rest of her life as a recluse in the mountains of Provence. Until, that is, a new gospel came to be written for which the Magdalene was to become the prime witness and oral source.

The Touch of the Magdalene offers a carefully researched, imaginative reconstruction of the afterlife of this enigmatic Christian heroine. Alone in Provence, she struggles to make sense of the tumultuous events in which she was involved as a young woman. When her solitary life is disturbed by the arrival of a stranger whose job is to ghost-write the Gospel of John, Magdalene has to decide which of her memories she will share with him. As the lover of Jesus and the Christian evangelist grow closer to each other and the true story of the resurrection is revealed, Mary Magdalene learns that the stranger himself has his own secret knowledge of this founding event of the Christian faith.

Diana Barsham is a cultural historian and biographer with a special interest in lives that combine the secular and the spiritual. She has published several books in this field including a ground-breaking study of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and another on the Victorian women’s movement and alternative spiritualities. Her interest in Mary Magdalene derives from her work at the University of New York in London where she taught courses on ancient culture and early Christianity. She currently lives in Provence where The Touch of the Magdalene is set and in Somerset where there are many churches dedicated to the saint.

Customer Reviews
4.7
10 reviews
10 reviews
  • Rosemary Freeman

    What happened to Mary Magdalene, the most intimate and close friend of Jesus, after the crucifixion? We find her some forty years on, high up on a mountain in Provence where it is rumoured she lived out her lonely and solitary life, cut off from her former colourful and turbulent existence. The author, speaking in the first person, has made use of the numerous legends and stories surrounding this controversial woman as she ponders some of the many events from her previous existence.

    When one day a stranger arrives at the cave where she lives and seeks her help in the writing of a fourth gospel, she must decide what to reveal. He is particularly interested in her personal and unique account of the resurrection. All possible interpretations are intricately examined - and Magdalene is even questioned as to whether it was indeed Jesus, in the flesh that she confronted on that Sunday morning after his burial.

    Read this scholarly and most imaginative work, and re-examine these questions for yourself.

  • Katharine Sax

    “A touch of the Magdalene” by Diana Barsham
    A speculative tale presented in the person of Mary Magdalene who is forced to reflect on her experiences both prior to and since her encounter with the risen Jesus. A ghost writer for John’s Gospel, who also has an incredible story to tell, coerces Mary into delving deeply into her inner being, facing her demons and grasping at the eternal peace she seeks. This is a story both challenging and at times deeply disturbing and not for those perhaps who are struggling with their faith or new to it.

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