title: Magdalen Rising: The Beginning (The Maeve Chronicles)
author:  Elizabeth Cunningham 
description: *Starred Review* The prequel to <i>The Passion of Mary Magdalen</i> (2006) lets us in on how a redheaded Celtic lass wound up the literal bride of Christ, and whereas <i>Passion</i> was deeply based in the New Testament (and the sociology of Roman brothels), <i>Magdalen Rising</i> is rooted in Celtic lore. Mary, nee Maeve, was born to weather-witches on a magical, floating island somewhere in the Celtic lands. Raised with unconditional maternal love and with few restraints on body or soul, she grows to be a glorious creature, with plenty of the talents that her possibly divine mothers used for witchcraft. Yes, she has more than one mother, though it would be giving away the store to explain how. She also has a destiny that she encounters in a vision of a man in desert garb taking a leak--a trademark Cunningham touch, both intensely religious and frankly, even humorously, embodied. When she meets that man at druid school, their fated love begins to unfold. Is he Esus, doomed god of the Celts, or Jesus, doomed god of the Jews, or both? Is she goddess or woman or both? Cunningham plays with complex theological issues--the role of embodiment in salvation, the gender of divinity, the question of sacrifice--but she is preeminently a storyteller, and the reader engages those questions within a marvelous, romantic tale. <i>Patricia Monaghan</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
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  The New Magdalen
  
  
    
    
  FIRST SCENE. The Cottage on the Frontier.  
    
  Chapter 1 - The Two Women  
    
  Chapter 2 - Magdalen--In Modern Times  
    
  Chapter 3 - The German Shell  
    
  Chapter 4 - The Temptation  
    
  Chapter 5 - The German Surgeon  
    
  SECOND SCENE. Mablethorpe House.  
    
  Chapter 6 - Lady Janet's Companion  
    
  Chapter 7 - The Man Is Coming  
    
  Chapter 8 - The Man Appears  
    
  Chapter 9 - News From Mannheim  
    
  Chapter 10 - A Council Of Three  
    
  Chapter 11 - The Dead Alive  
    
  [Chapter 12 - Exit Julian  
    
  ](The%20New%20Magdalen_split_001.html#filepos199728)[Chapter 13 - Enter Julian  
    
  ](The%20New%20Magdalen_split_001.html#filepos220055)[Chapter 14 - Coming
  Events Cast Their Shadows Before  
    
  ](The%20New%20Magdalen_split_001.html#filepos235918)[Chapter 15 - A Woman's
  Remorse  
    
  ](The%20New%20Magdalen_split_001.html#filepos248973)[Chapter 16 - They Meet
  Again  
    
  ](The%20New%20Magdalen_split_001.ht