{"product_id":"9781451692389","title":"The Testament of Mary : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Colm Toibin\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Tóibín is at his lyrical best in this beautiful and daring work” (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) that portrays Mary as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity—shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel, who are her keepers. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it”; nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and her judgment of others is equally harsh. This woman whom we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“Tóibín is at his lyrical best in The Testament of Mary, a beautiful and daring work…it takes its power from the surprises of its language, its almost shocking characterization, its austere refusal of consolation.”\u003cbr\u003e“[An] exquisite novella…Tóibín gives a familiar story startling intimacy.”\u003cbr\u003e“A heartfelt, powerful work.”\u003cbr\u003e“Dramatic and poetic…A powerful, devastating story.”\u003cbr\u003e“Lovely, understated and powerfully sad, \u003ci\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e finally gives the mother of Jesus a chance to speak. And, given that chance, she throws aside the blue veil of the Madonna to become wholly, gloriously human.”\u003cbr\u003e“Mary—silent, obedient, observant—has echoed down two millennia, cementing a potent ideal in the Western imagination. Now the masterful Irish writer Colm Tóibín puts a jackhammer to the cozy, safe, Christmas-card version in \u003ci\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e“A slim, grave,\u003cb\u003e exquisitely emotional\u003c\/b\u003e book…\u003ci\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea spellbinding, surprisingly reverent book\u003c\/b\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e“Tóibín applies a Joycean ruthlessness…Imagining himself into Mary’s interior life is his boldest jump yet.”\u003cbr\u003e“Tóibín’s intimate approach make Mary feel more credible and human…The result, \u003ci\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e, feels true.”\u003cbr\u003e“Tóibín suffuses the story with a sense of mystery and makes the reader feel (perhaps as never before) the tragedy of the crucifixion.”\u003cbr\u003e“A deeply, if at times painfully, human portrait of Mary, tearing asunder the robes of red and blue that envelop her in paintings and sculptures.”\u003cbr\u003e“With this masterly novella, Tóibín has finally tackled the subject of Christianity—and he has done so with a vengeance…Nowhere in this beguiling and deeply intelligent, moving work is Mary’s attention to detail more instrumental (and more like a novelist’s) than in her account of her son’s death…In a single passage—and in a rendition, furthermore, of one of the most famous passages of western literature—Tóibín shows how the telling and the details are all-important.”\u003cbr\u003e“[A] monumental achievement…equally powerful and poignant whether it’s read by one who espouses or eschews the New Testament…A tender, soul-rending exploration of a mother’s mourning; a searing, stunning work.”\u003cbr\u003e“The Testament of Mary is an important and persuasive book: Tóibín's weary Mary, sceptical and grudging, reads as far more true and real than the saintly perpetual virgin of legend. And Tóibín is a wonderful writer: as ever, his lyrical and moving prose is the real miracle.”\u003cbr\u003e“There is a profound ache throughout this little character study, a steely determination coupled with an unbearable loss. Although it has some insightful things to say about religion and the period—the descriptions of the Crucifixion are visceral—it has a universal message about the nature of loss. ‘I can tell you now, when you say he redeemed the world, I will say that it was not worth it. It was not worth it.’”\u003cbr\u003e“This novel is the Virgin's version of the life of Christ. After a lifetime listening to everyone else's versions of that life, she is angry and frustrated because they are all questionable.”\u003cbr\u003e“A flawless work, touching, moving and terrifying…”\u003cbr\u003e“Reading this perfect little novella is like watching someone light a candle inside a lantern.”\u003cbr\u003e“A stunning interpretation that is as beautiful in its presentation as it is provocative in its intention.”\u003cbr\u003e“[A] poignant reimagining of the last days of Christ.”\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe Testament of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e] builds to a provocative climax, one that is as spiritually profound as its prose is plainspoken…A work suffused with mystery and wonder.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781451692389\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Scribner","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40984857280718,"sku":"9781451692389","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/O_d11c5b93-a580-455a-9f66-d0764015fbc0.jpg?v=1646779155","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781451692389","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}