there’s no such thing as secular history

The Book of Ruth is one of the historical books in the Old Testament, full of stories and genealogies. There are over-arching stories about the ups and downs of Hebrew people–their history looks like a the peaks and valleys of a beating heart laid over a timeline of thousands of years. In research for Less Than a Widow,  I read… Read More

conversations

Conversation Group #1: “Which one is Ruth? You’re kidding, right? She’s one who doesn’t look at all like the rest of us.” “Can you believe that accent—you can’t understand a word she’s saying, and she walks around Bethlehem as if she thinks she belongs here. I don’t like it.” “Poor Naomi—to have a woman like… Read More

empowered or not?

Can an historical novel about women struggling through life in a patriarchal society speak into women empowerment issues? Perhaps we should start with a definition. A quick perusal of the world-wide web showed that most groups agree on a definition similar to the one below: Women’s empowerment focuses on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving… Read More