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From Publishers Weekly
An award-winning journalist and author of several Christian books, Murray (A Mended and Broken Heart) draws on her work in Central and South America in her debut novel, which mixes mystery, romance, and archaeology. Lucy Shaw is a journalist reporting from Copán, Honduras, a site of extensive ruins from the Maya civilization, where archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the remains of the founding king of the dynasty at Copán. Lucy has been to Copán before, and a romantic relationship she had with archaeologist James Fee is also in ruins. Her return is further complicated by murder: a dead body is found in the Maya king’s tomb, positioned as though it were a Mayan sacrifice. Ultimate resolution involves taking responsibility and some difficult truth-telling. The archaeology framework for the story is factual, thorough, and fascinating, and the novel’s strongest, most distinctive element. Murray also writes well, developing memorable characters. Murray’s fiction debut is thought-provoking.
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From Publishers Weekly
Murray (The Beliefnet Guide to Evangelical Christianity) lowered herself into ancient ruins, chatted with nuns behind iron grilles and pored over documents in four languages to research and write this story of Francis of Assisi, the medieval saint whose appeal is timeless. In a work that is both scholarly and engaging, Murray retells the life of this complicated man—who was poet, warrior, knight, lover, madman and saint—in a way that even those familiar with Francis’s story will find compelling. Of special interest is the way she handles the relationship between Francis and Clare of Assisi. Acknowledging what scholars and historians have tended to dismiss as sentimental, modern and implausible, Murray holds that the pair’s attachment was rooted in love, but that it evolved into a mutual renunciation and remained pure as they took religious vows. She also shows that the age difference between Francis and Clare may not have been great enough to support the official Catholic position that their bond was merely that of father and daughter.
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