Colm Toibin imagines the mother of Jesus

Some years after the crucifixion of Jesus, his mother lives a mournful, isolated life. Having witnessed the execution, Mary has gone into hiding, fearful that the authorities who killed her son and many of his associates might be hunting her. She is visited, rather against her wishes, by two of her son's former followers. The visitors seem interested in Mary only as a possible source of information: They want her to confirm and perhaps extend some of their accounts of Jesus' actions.

By Troy Jollimore

December 7, 2012