Bright Dark Madonna. Elizabeth Cunningham

of Contents

      ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BRIGHT DARK MADONNA PRAISE FOR THE MAEVE CHRONICLES OTHER NOVELS BY ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM Title Page Copyright Page A note on reading this book Or this is not your mother’s Mary Magdalen PROLOGUE: MY FEAST DAY - How to Become a Saint PART ONE - THE PENTECOSTAL ALLEY BLUES

      CHAPTER ONE - FAILURE CHAPTER TWO - MY THREE FATES CHAPTER THREE - LEVIRATE OR HOW TO SALVAGE A LINEAGE CHAPTER FOUR - WHAT MEN ARE FOR CHAPTER FIVE - TWO OR THREE TOGETHER CHAPTER SIX - IN WHICH MA AND I ARE INTRODUCED TO THE ECCLESIA CHAPTER SEVEN - BRING FORTH THAT WHICH IS WITHIN YOU CHAPTER EIGHT - TRUE CONFESSIONS CHAPTER NINE - WHITHER THOU GOEST

       PART TWO - AVE MATRES

      CHAPTER TEN - MY PEOPLE CHAPTER ELEVEN - COUNTING DOWN CHAPTER TWELVE - BLACK DOVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN - SIEGE CHAPTER FOURTEEN - HOLY HUBBUB CHAPTER FIFTEEN - IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY CHAPTER SIXTEEN - BRAWL CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - WHEN TWO ARE GATHERED CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - OUR LADY OF EXILE

       PART THREE - MOUNTAIN SONG

      CHAPTER NINETEEN - THE THREE CHAPTER TWENTY - WHERE IS MY DA? CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - BEDTIME STORIES CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - LIFE GOES ON CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - THE DELEGATION CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - BLOOD CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - THE LEAST OF MY BRETHREN CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - IN HIS NAME CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - FATHER AND SON CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - PREACHER MAN CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - RELUCTANT CAMP FOLLOWER CHAPTER THIRTY - REVELATIONS

       PART FOUR - PSALM

      CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - GUIDE MY FEET CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO - A LAUNDRESS FOR CHRIST CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE - OF FOOD AND FORESKINS CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR - CONTRARY MARYS CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE - TELL ME THE TRUTH! CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX - THE LORD’S SON CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN - TELL MY MOTHER! CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT - FIT TO BE TIED CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE - THE WIND BLOWS WHERE IT WILL CHAPTER FORTY - AT SEA

       PART FIVE: HYMN TO MA OF EPHESUS

      CHAPTER FORTY-ONE - LOOSE CANON CHAPTER FORTY-TWO - THE MEETING CHAPTER FORTY-THREE - EPHESUS AND GREATER EPHESUS CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR - MERYEMANA CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE - ADVICE CHAPTER FORTY-SIX - OLD AQUAINTANCE CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN - BELOVED DISCIPLE CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT - HOLY OF HOLIES CHAPTER FORTY-NINE - MUST IT BE WRITTEN? CHAPTER FIFTY - IT IS WRITTEN CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE - JESUS OUR MOTHER

       PART SIX: THE BALLAD OF BLACK SARAH

      CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO - JAILBREAK CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE - WIDE OPEN SPACES CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR - MY STORY, MY TRUTH CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE - VIVE! CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX - SAINTED

       ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SOURCES

      Ave Matres

      A note on reading this book Or this is not your mother’s Mary Magdalen

      OR MAYBE SHE IS. I don’t know your mother. She could be as wild and wise as Maeve, the Celtic Mary Magdalen, narrator of this story and of all The Maeve Chronicles. Be assured: you do not need to have read Magdalen Rising and The Passion of Mary Magdalen to enjoy Bright Dark Madonna. Together the novels tell Maeve’s life story, yet each novel is self-contained and they can be read in any order. In Bright Dark Madonna there are occasional quotations from the previous novels. They are defined by italics.

      I do not want to reveal too much previous plot or to explain how Maeve manages to travel across seas, continents, and worlds. But if you are new to Maeve’s story, here are a few facts about her that it might be helpful to know:

      MAEVE’S CURRICULUM VITAE

       She was born on the Isle of Women in the Celtic Otherworld and raised by eight warrior-witch mothers.

       She attended druid school where she studied to be a bard—until she got kicked out, which is to say exiled,