Bright Dark Madonna. Elizabeth Cunningham

      ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BRIGHT DARK MADONNA

      “Elizabeth Cunningham has again delved into her fabulous treasure trove of impeccable research, and come up with gold. In Bright Dark Madonna, her interweaving of Biblical-Celtic themes brings the first century to life with unexpected freshness and many surprises.”

      —Katherine Neville, author of The Eight and The Fire

      “The turmoil of that first generation of Christians is remarkably recreated here with Maeve once again surviving against great odds. These were the years when her story got lost, but Cunningham’s erudition, keen insight, and imaginative voice won’t let that story be forgotten. Reading Bright Dark Madonna is a sheer joy.”

      —Tom Cowan, author of Fire in the Head:

      Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit

      “Powerful, moving, hilariously funny, a brilliant blend of paganism and Christianity, Elizabeth Cunningham’s new novel imagines the missing, feminist story of the New Testament. And what a visionary tale she tells. Anyone who loved The Passion of Mary Magdalen will be ready to snatch up this sequel and continue to follow Maeve’s journey through the lustful geography of the soul to grasp the ever-changing identity of the Bright Dark Madonna.”

      —Mary Swander, author of The Desert Pilgrim:

      En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

      “It is a testament to Elizabeth Cunningham’s genius that (unlike the New Testament) her story loses none of its narrative momentum after Jesus leaves it. Deeper, more reflective than the previous volumes, yet even more audacious, this latest installment of the Maeve Chronicles is the best yet.”

      —Catherine MacCoun, author of On Becoming an Alchemist

      “In Bright Dark Madonna, Elizabeth Cunningham performs a miracle of her own, breathing life into an important historical period we only dimly see through the haze of myth, legend, and dogma. She gives us the best gift a talespinner can—a perfectly possible reality that appeals both to our intellect and to our imagination.”

      —Jack Maguire, author of Creative Storytelling and

      The Power of Personal Storytelling

      PRAISE FOR THE MAEVE CHRONICLES

      MAGDALEN RISING: THE BEGINNING

      “Smart and earthy... richly imaginative...

      the epitome of the storyteller’s art.”

      —St. Louis Post-Dispatch, chosen as one of “The Year’s Best Books

      “Destined to become a classic of womens literature.”

      —Booklist, starred review

      THE PASSION OF MARY MAGDALEN

      Named “One of the Best Spiritual Books of 2006”, Winner of Sacred Feminine category, Spirituality & Health Magazine

      Book of the Year Award finalist, Religious Fiction, 2006,

      ForeWord Magazine

      “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.”

      —BookBrothel.com

      “Sassy, salty, sexy... 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

      “The Passion of Mary Magdalen 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

      “Magdalene fans are in for more surprises in Cunningham’s classy, sexy novel.”

      —Booklist, starred review

      “…an unforgettable fifth gospel story in which the women most involved in Jesus’s ministry are given far more representation...”

      —Library Journal

      “Amazing story!”

      —Historical Novels Review

      OTHER NOVELS BY ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM

      Return of the Goddess, A Divine Comedy

      The Wild Mother

      How to Spin Gold, A Woman’s Tale

      THE MAEVE CHRONICLES

      Magdalen Rising

      The Passion of Mary Magdalen

      Bright Dark Madonna

      POETRY

      Small Bird

      Wild Mercy

      Bright Dark Madonna copyright 2009 by Elizabeth Cunningham

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher except in critical articles and reviews. Contact the publisher for information: Monkfish Book Publishing Company 22 E. Market Street, Rhinebeck, N.Y. 12572

      Printed in the United States of America

      Book and cover design by Georgia Dent

      Cover art used with permission:

      Alonso del Arco

      La Madgalena despojándose de sus joyas

      Oil on canvas, 170 x 123 cm.

      Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias

      The poems Poem for march 23, Song of Isis, Egypt and Poem for May 27, Egyptian Prayer

      to Isis, Eighteenth Dynasty, 1567-1320 B.C.E., Poem for November 12,

      Egyptian coffin texts, have been reprinted with kind permission from The Goddess Com-

      panion: Daily Meditations on the Feminine Spirit by Patricia Monaghan copyright 1999,

      Llewellyn Worldwide, 2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125-29899.

      All rights reserved.

      eBook ISBN: 9780983358985

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Cunningham, Elizabeth, 1953-

      Bright dark Madonna : a novel / by Elizabeth Cunningham.

      p. cm. -- (The Maeve chronicles; 3)

      eISBN 9780983358985

      1. Mary Magdalene, Saint--Fiction. 2. Women priests--Fiction. 3. Jesus Christ--Fiction. 4. Religious fi ction. I. Title.

      PS3553.U473B75 2009

      813’.54--dc22

      2009001105

      Bulk purchase discounts for educational or promotional purposes are available.

      First Edition

      First Impression

      10987654321

      Monkfish Book Publishing Company

      22 E. Market Street

      Rhinebeck, New York 12572

      www.monkfishpublishing.com

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