A WOMAN OF JERUSALEM
By
The Jews' hatred of the Romans, and the presence in Jerusalem of a mysterious rabbi Jesus ben Joseph dramatically affect the lives of a varied group of people. Felix Petronius, a Roman officer duty-bound to despoil the Temple of its treasure, falls in love with an aristocratic Jewess. Tamar cannot help but return his love although she is betrothed to a man of her religion and class. A slave girl in love with Tamer's brother comes to hate her mistress and vows revenge upon her. A devout Pharisee turns himself into a spy so that he may win the favor of the high priest by finding the Nazarene rabbi guilty of heresy. How all these various plots and subplots are worked out should provide an exciting tale, but the material dealt with here has become too familiar from overuse to generate any surprises. Nevertheless the audience for popular religio-historical fiction should find this to their liking.