| Synopsis: |
In 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 - her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. 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. Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died - she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know as the docile, loving, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra, Medea or Antigone. Toibin's tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed. |