Song of the Magdalene is set in the smothering environment of first-century Magdala, a town in the north of Palestine known for the beauty of its tower and the lush meadows and valleys that surround it. Magdala is home to Miriam, whose budding pubescent nature begins to chafe at the strictures enjoined.on religious Jewish women. Magdala is a small town where everyone knows each other's business and where the pious women at the well zealously appraise each other's observance of the Law, ready to condemn and ostracize over the smallest breach of morals and behavior. Miriam lives in her widowed father's home, taken care of by Hannah, her father's housekeeper, who daily tries to stress upon Miriam the prohibitions by Jewish law.

It is in this setting that Miriam emerges from childhood. Her father is a loving parent whose memory of Miriam's mother is that of a...