THE BOOK OF RACHAEL

The year is 30 AD. A young man is travelling the countryside around the Sea of Galilee preaching a message of love and justice. A prophet is being made, and a martyr. But that story is well known. The young preacher, then known as Joshua of Nazareth, had a sister at home. Of her, we know nothing at all.

The Book of Rachael is the story of a fiercely intelligent child consigned by her sex to a life of ignorance and drudgery. But Rachael fights her destiny, secretly learning the forbidden skills of literary from her father Yosef and her brother. And when she falls in love with Joshua's closest friend, Judah of Iscariot, it even seems that Rachael will find happiness in her constrained world.

Then a message comes from Joshua. He is on his way to Jerusalem. He plans to speak out against the corrupt establishment, and he asks for Judah's help. And so begins the chain of tragic events that will change not just Rachael's life, but the world - forever.

Leslie Cannold is an author and columnist. Over the years her views and reviews have appeared in all the major Australian media outlets, and she is a regular guest on ABC TV's Q&A. The Book of Rachel is her first novel.