Janette Oke has dreamed for years of retelling a story in a
biblical time frame from a female protagonist's perspective, and
Davis Bunn is elated to be working with her again on this sweeping
saga of the dramatic events surrounding the birth of
Christianity...and the very personal story of Leah, a young Jewess
of mixed heritage trapped in a vortex of competing political
agendas and private trauma.
Caught up in the maelstrom following the death of an obscure rabbi
in the Roman backwater of first-century Palestine, Leah finds
herself also engulfed in her own turmoil--facing the prospect of an
arranged marriage to a Roman soldier, Alban, who seems to care for
nothing but his own ambitions. Head of the garrison near Galilee,
he has been assigned by Palestine's governor to ferret out the
truth behind rumors of a political execution gone awry. Leah's
mistress, the governor's wife, secretly commissions Leah also to
discover what really has become of this man whose death--and
missing body--is causing such furor.
This epic drama is threaded with the tale of an unlikely romance
and framed with dangers and betrayals from unexpected sources. At
its core, The Centurion's Wife unfolds the testing of
loyalties--between two young people whose inner searchings they
cannot express, between their irreconcilable heritages, and
ultimately between their humanity and the Divine they yearn to
encounter.
Davis Bunn, the author of twenty bestsellers, has received
numerous accolades, including three Christy Awards for excellence
in fiction. His books have sold more than six million copies in
sixteen languages. He and his wife, Isabella, make their home near
Oxford, England, where they teach and write. Davis serves as
Writer-In-Residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University,
and is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television
Arts.
Janette Oke, recipient of the 1992 ECPA President's Award and the
1999 CBA Life Impact Award for her significant contribution to the
Christian book industry, has also won both the Gold Medallion Award
and the Christy Award for fiction. Janette and her husband, Edward,
live in Alberta, Canada.