FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Paul Cohen
Monkfish Book Publishing Company
845-876-4861
www.monkfishpublishing.com
Isabella Michon
ImMedia, Inc.
415-898-4838
im.media@comcast.net
Prequel to Passion—Magdalen Rising now available
The Passion of Mary Magdalen to be published in PAPERBACK! Coming this MAY
Rhinebeck, NY February 22, 2007. Monkfish Book Publishing Company is proud to announce the publication of Magdalen Rising: The Beginning (in bookstores April 2007) by Elizabeth Cunningham. Magdalen Rising is the prequel to The Passion of Mary Magdalen;: A Novel published to critical acclaim last April (2006). Both titles are part of the series THE MAEVE CHRONICLES, a historical fantasy on the life of the Celtic Mary Magdalen. The third title of the series Bright Dark Madonna is anticipated in 2008.
“The prequel to The Passion of Mary Magdalen (2006) lets us in on how a redheaded Celtic lass wound up the literal bride of Christ, and whereas Passion was deeply based in the New Testament (and the sociology of Roman brothels), Magdalen Rising is rooted in Celtic lore… 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.” Booklist, starred review, March 15, 2007
MAGDALEN RISING
The Beginning
Elizabeth Cunningham
ISBN 978-0-9766843-2-9
416 pages, hardcover, $24.95
THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN
A Novel
Elizabeth Cunningham
ISBN 978-0976684336
640 pages, paperback, $16.95
For more information visit: www.passionofmarymagdalen.com
Monkfish Book Publishing Company is an independent press in Rhinebeck, New York publishing fiction and non-fiction books that combine spiritual and literary merit. Monkfish books are distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.
Reviews for THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN by Elizabeth Cunningham
Monkfish Book Publishing Company
"..The book becomes a gospel in itself...anyone who reads it will never approach the canon the same way again. The Passion of Mary Magdalen is a tour de force." --Episcopal Life Magazine, April 2006
"This year's must-have summer reading." --KINK radio
“The Passion of Mary Magdalen explodes off the page with its tales of love, hope, power, and redemption, making it a great read for a wide variety of people - book clubs looking for a great discussion, take note.” --The Book Brothel. Com
“Unforgettably original. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, move over!”
--San Antonio Express-News
"The Passion of Mary Magdalen gives readers what (The DaVinci Code) does not— freedom from a false claim that all the historical elements in the book are factual. So the story can be taken as, well, a story, featuring a strong-willed woman…There is engaging language, too, such as her intriguing description of Jesus as “a man who broke Sabbath rules like fingernails.”" --The Kansas City Star
“This epic, stunningly original work…is simply a roaring good read. --Foreword Magazine, Finalist for Book of the Year Award
"The Passion offers a digestive to Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” and a fascination way beyond Dan Brown’s exploitation of this Mary’s story in The DaVinci Code."-- Pages Magazine
“As you might imagine, Cunningham’s tale is hardly traditional — and is all the better for it. Sassy, salty, sexy —all three words aptly describe Cunningham’s prose, her heroine, and The Passion of Mary Magdalen as a whole. Those without an irreverent sense of humor will likely balk, but that just leaves more copies for the rest of us to pass around.” -- LesbianNation.com
“Elizabeth Cunningham beckons us … in her raucous, inspired, and thought-provoking novel.” --Spirituality and Health Magazine, Chosen as one of THE BEST SPIRITUAL BOOKS IN 2006
"Lavish and lusty...Cunningham's Celtic Magdalene is as hot in the mouth as Irish whiskey."
-Beliefnet, chosen as one of this year's "heretical beach-books".
“Magdalene fans are in for more surprises in Cunningham's classy, sexy novel...this will be - besides snapped up by Magdalene fans, Celtophiles, feminists and lovers of a good yarn - controversial. Those unready for lesbianism and sex with the Redeemer between the same covers may blanch as well as flush.”
-Booklist, Feb. 2006, starred review
"Cunningham weaves Hebrew scripture, Celtic and Egyptian mythology, and early Christian legend into a nearly seamless whole, creating an unforgettable fifth gospel story in which the women most involved in Jesus's ministry are given far more representation..."--Library Journal
