Saracen, Justine.  Sarah, Son of God. Bold Strokes, 2011. Paperback. 278p. $16.95. 978-1-60282-212-2.

Three eras of history intersect as a book of heresy endangers lives, loves, and faith. Researching freshly discovered letters in Italian dating from 1560, Joanna Valois needs a translator.

The best candidate for the job is beautiful Sara Falier, a transgender art historian who was caught up in the Stonewall riots. Together they pursue the facts behind the letters to Venice, where they run into a different kind of stone wall.

Their struggle to trace history through libraries and archives and symbols in paintings is suspenseful, despite their rather careless treatment of some of the historic objects. Their growing attachment to each other contends with unhappy past experiences on both sides.

Sara’s translations reveal Leonora, whose family’s print shop ran afoul of the Inquisition for printing an account of the last days of Jesus that contradicted Church dogma. Disguised as Lawrence Bolde, Leonora writes of fleeing Venice and hope of being reunited with Anna in England. The fate of the printed copies of the heresy and the man who ordered them unfolds in the letters.

Saracen’s affirmation of love between women is a counterpoint to her challenge to Christian belief. Her novel has the plot appeal of The Da Vinci Code, but no obscurity clouds Saracen’s heresy. Her reinterpretation of Biblical events from Salome to the Crucifixion is plausible, which will make believers that much more uncomfortable. It too describes a woman’s love and explains the title. Unfortunately, that title may attract those readers most likely to be shocked by the author’s reinterpretation of Jesus.

This book would be appropriate for all library collections.

Reviewer: Carolyn Caywood, Retired

Virginia Beach Public Library