Although each book of the trilogy stands alone, it’s useful to know that The Passion of Mary Magdalen ended with the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and a double apotheosis in the tomb. As Bright Dark Madonna opens, Maeve is a pregnant widow. James and the other founders of what will become the Christian religion don’t like her very much. (Are they jealous?) They are determined that she will bear a son and that they will raise the child. Maeve runs away to her temple/whorehouse in Magdala, where she gives birth to Sarah, a dark-skinned baby with her father’s golden eyes. As the story continues, Maeve, the baby, and Ma—better known as the Blessed Virgin Mary,  Mother of God, Star of the Sea, etc.—are threatened again by the patriarchal ecclesia, and so they escape to Asia Minor, settling in Galatia, which had been settled five centuries earlier by Celts. The three live alone and Maeve and Mary become known as healers. Enter a small, ugly man, beaten and wounded, nearly dead. This is the Apostle Paul; as the Bible relates, his preaching earned him endless punishments. Maeve heals him. But her daughter (age twelve now) is attracted to his preaching. Sarah runs away.