In the Company of Women

“Barbara Anderson’s inspired novel is a marvelous gift for our times. As a true icon, though written in words on paper rather than in paint on gesso and wood, it is lean and spare and beautiful. It leaves much to the reader’s own vision and imagination while clearly conveying the face of Jesus among his earliest followers. I found myself traveling in the company of these women, and highly recommend it to others.”

Adriana Huyer

“This Jesus story brims with the perfume, customs, color, and tastes of first-century Palestine; it is peopled by Mary of Magdala, Susana, and divorced Joanna, a midwife who had no children. The action is sifted through her keen femininity, as it savors the sentiments of the individuals who once were lost and now find themselves. It promises a sublime reading of the Gospels through the experiences of the women.”

Konrad Schaefer

“In the Company of Women is the piercing clap of a Zen master startling me out of complacency. Walking with a vividly imagined Joanna, I watch her endure hardship, make mistakes, and have changes of heart. Joanna’s journey constantly shakes me awake, for Anderson plants the familiar events, miracles, and parables of the Synoptic Gospels in an unfamiliar narrative, allowing me to sense both the desolation and hope of the early Christians.”

Ruth Russo

“Comparatively scant are the details in the Gospels of the everyday life that surrounded Jesus and the world in which he was immersed. Anderson uses her theologically educated and prayerful imagination to tease out a gripping narrative of what it might have been like to be among the women who went about in the company of Jesus. Doing so, she deepens astonishment for the Christian believer ‘that the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.’”

Jeremy Driscoll