It was, of course, a matter of me giving myself permission. I kept a quote on my desk by Virginia Woolf: ‘Everything is the proper stuff of fiction.’ That was my personal permission slip. I understood all too well that some readers would resist the idea of a married Jesus. I grew up attending a Baptist church in a small town in Georgia.
Even though I was writing mostly about the period before Jesus’ public ministry - a time when his life is unrecorded - I knew I was climbing way, way out on the literary limb. “I can’t deny that when I first conceived of the idea for this novel, I experienced some moments of trepidation. Kidd explains her thought process in how she developed the character of Jesus: But that task is far more daunting when one of those figures is not only a major historical personage but is held by millions to be God. It’s difficult for novelists to write about larger than life historical figures for whom we already have many preconceptions. There her writing and intellectual life flourishes. Their life together does not last long, however, as Jesus realizes his destiny is to be a wandering preacher and Herod’s forces close in on Ana, forcing her to flee to Egypt, where she discovers a society far more tolerant of women’s rights.
She meets a young, charismatic Nazarene carpenter and mason named Jesus, they fall in love, and marry. When Ana rebuffs Herod’s offer to be his concubine, she realizes her life is in danger and flees the palace. Unusual for women of that time and place, Ana is literate and spends much of her time writing stories about the people in her environment, especially the women. The novel is set in first-century Judea where Ana, the daughter of an official in King Herod’s court, lives a privileged, sheltered life. Her latest novel, The Book of Longings (Tinder Press UK/Viking US, 2020), continues her exploration of feminine empowerment and theology, this time going back to biblical times. Sue Monk Kidd is the author of the best-selling The Secret Life of Bees (2001) and several other notable works. Negotiating History & Imagination: Sue Monk Kidd’s The Book of Longings
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