In this series, the heroine, Martha, who was a great friend and follower of Jesus, had witnessed His spectacular ministry, His terrible death and His amazing resurrection. Then, along with the other disciples, she and her family were scattered by the mounting persecution led by a zealous Jew called Saul.
Martha had left Caesarea during this time of persecution only five years before in AD 34, but in this novel, Martha is drawn to return, from her safety in Cyprus, in order to help a friend in great need.
This historical fiction is full of intrigue and suspense, as the friction between Jews, Romans and followers of the Way is still palpable and the arenas are ever hungry for blood-thirsty entertainment.
The narrative is warm and creative, as the author draws the reader into the plights and minds of each of the characters, who come from very different cultures and pasts.
Martha herself is challenged in her own thinking to accept that grace has been extended equally to believing gentiles, as to Jews, and that there is now no distinction between Jews and gentiles. It seems that even Saul has become a believer in Jesus and Greeks and Romans alike are being filled with the Spirit and are being baptised
Martha is also challenged in relationships of the heart and other passions, as the way of the believers is truly turning the world upside down!
This is not just theory, but has to mean a complete change in her internal culture and habits, as she embraces all that God has poured out – salvation, grace and His Holy Spirit indiscriminately on ALL who believe.
Susan Sutherland explores well the traditional roles, the vulnerable position, the expectations and resilience of women in her novels. Often the women have merely a mention in the Biblical texts, but clearly there roles are very major and significant in the realities that they faced, alongside the men.
Susan Sutherland also looks at the lives of many of the women mentioned among the followers of Jesus and in the making of the Early Church. She explores many of their stories in the form of ‘interviews’, between her journalist character, ‘Aemilia Metella’, and the women themselves.
To stand up for your Christian faith was a dangerous thing to do, and women were
abused, tortured, or even killed for their beliefs alongside the men. Their stories spanning
nearly two thousand years deserve to be told and retold because they are as relevant today
as they were then.’
You can read some of these excellent (vignettes) ‘interviews’ on her blog –
Book Review Blog Tour – Unashamed by Tracy Williamson
I have had the wonderful privilege of reading a pre-publication copy of Tracy Williamson’s new book, ‘Unashamed’ which is to be released for sale this Friday, 8thSeptember2023. (See details of the virtual zoom book launch below.)
It is my honour to be part of this blog-tour and to now present my honest response as a review of her gem of a book:
Unashamed (Discover the healing power of God’s love for your wounded soul)
by Tracy Williamson
First published 2023 by Authentic Media Limited. Publisher Authentic Media Paperback : 336 pages ISBN : 9781788932684 RRO £11.99, available from Marston, KCLC and Gardners
‘Whatever life has thrown at you, the truth is that your identity, the bottom line of the ‘Who Am I’?’ question, is that you were planned, thought of, lovingly designed, wanted and created in love’ (Tracy Williamson)
In Tracy’s own words in the introduction, she says – ‘where life has hurt us and left us feeling rubbish, God falls in love with us and takes us to His heart to restore and recreate the beauty He put in us – releasing us unashamed to our purpose.’
This sums up the message of inner transformation and healing with the particular gentle grace with which Tracy speaks into the heart of her readers.
Many of us go through life with wounds, pain and lies written deeply in our hearts – lies that tell us that we our bad and wrong in our very essence. This is shame. We bury this and pretend that all is well with us, but when we hit a rocky place, we see and hear the rubble, rubbish and lies upon which we have built our identity.
The truth, on the other hand, is that God, who made us and formed us in our mother’s womb, who knew us at the creation of all the world, He loves us with an everlasting love. But we don’t know this, we don’t believe it in the deepest recesses of our heart. He desires to woo us into healing and transformation with His truth.
The truth is that we are welcomed, wanted and beloved children of the living God.
This is the glorious message that God has been teaching Tracy and which she is sharing with the world in this profound treasure of a tool-book.
Tracy uses real-life stories – raw anecdotes from her own life and heart, and from others with whom she has shared her stories. This was great for me as I love story and testimony, as the authenticity is indisputable and reaches heart to heart.
Like the Master Himself, Tracy also uses delightfully accessible parables to illustrate and teach essential truths about God’s love and purpose. These help visual-thinking readers, like myself, to see, enter and remember the truths being spoken. It also keeps the teachings fun and non-threatening, making them even more powerful!
Another very powerful aspect of her book is the sharing of prophetic visions and invitations from the Holy Spirit – these spoke to me profoundly and knit the chapters together in a very wholesome way, each time inviting the reader to reflect and respond, even as God responds to our yearnings for Him.
In these times of reflection, I sensed the presence of God shining His light into those hidden places of shame, and felt the soothing balm of His healing touch as I opened up some of the wounded places revealed through the prophetic messages.
Within the chapters, Tracy invites the reader to rest, reflect and respond, but I didn’t tarry long enough! I want to go back especially to the prophetic messages and the personal testimonies, as I know that I rushed it and would do well to rest and meditate more in those places of healing truth.
As you can see, I love this book and I recommend it to anyone seeking greater healing and freedom in their lives.
I shall certainly be reading it again and lingering on the reflections and the prophetic.
If this does not tempt you to go straight to her website to order a copy of the book and read it for yourself, then listen to her speak about the book herself at her online book-launch this Friday 8th September 2023
NB: One is required to register for the online launch – so click the link below and register.
You can join them on Zoom this Friday for the virtual launch – Details can be found by visiting.www.unashamed.org.uk
To order a copy of Unashamed, please go to the website above. You may need to use a pc or laptop when ordering and paying, because of a temporary glitch .
You can also order by emailing the administrator on info@mbm-ministries.org
Tracy Williamson, who is deaf and partially sighted, and Marilyn, who is blind, head up the charity MBM Trust – Restoring Lives Through Intimacy with God, which is based in south-east England.
1) For whom did you write this book – who do you want it to reach?
Tracy: I feel Unashamed can reach everyone, as we all go through times of struggle and pain in life and also many of us would love to be drawing alongside and helping those who are struggling. Its a great resource for such people. But my primary aim is for those who feel they just can’t hope for change and transformation as their needs and hurts run so deep. I want it to be a book that brings hope that change is possible for all however deep the hurt as God’s love is bigger than the deepest wounds.
2) How long has your own spiritual healing journey been and do you think we are ever completely healed during our earthly lives?
Tracy: My own healing journey began before I discovered the Lord’s love for me. I was 18, at college and in a place of suicidal despair because of years of abuse and rejection. God drew me to him in an amazing encounter which I describe in Unashamed, and my healing journey began to crystalise and lead me to true wholeness. I’ve been on that journey ever since. I do believe we can experience full healing in this life because of the fact that Jesus died taking ALL our guilt, wounds, pain and shame on the cross with him. However, we do have to learn to live in its truth and life can be a roller coaster at times. My own experience is that I’ve made very significant steps to knowing, for example that I am beloved, rather than unwanted and shameful, and I really do know that now. But nevertheless, a difficult situation or unkind word can easily send me back into the old mindsets, so I have to keep close to Jesus and listening for his voice of truth and being willing to let my deeper self come into the light of his love.
3) You speak of Ellel Ministries’ impact in your life; have any other ministries or resources had an impact you would recommend to the reader?
Tracy: Yes Ellel were powerful to set me free from many satanic strongholds. My own church was also greatly used and lovely friends who had listening hearts and believed in the power of Jesus to heal wounded hearts. ‘Beauty from Ashes’ ministry taught me a great deal about drawing alongside and praying for hurting people too, as well as countless books from those in healing ministry.
Tracy, thank you so much for being raw and honest and for allowing God to shine through the cracks into your heart. Thank you for trusting Him to put you back together laced with His pure gold healing. Thank you for sharing your story!
May this book and all your ministries spread the healing power of the truth of God’s love for every wounded heart.
Jonathan Bryan has severe cerebral palsy, a condition that makes him incapable of voluntary movement or speech. He was locked inside his own mind, aware of the outside world but unable to fully communicate with it until he found a way by using his eyes to laboriously choose individual letters, and through this make his thoughts known. In Eye Can Write, we read of his intense passion for life, his mischievous sense of fun, his hopes, his fears, and what it’s like to be him. This is a powerful book from an incredible young writer whose writing ability defies age or physical disability—a truly inspirational figure.
This June 2022, I had the pleasure of meeting 16 year old author, Jonathan Bryan and his mother, Chantal. As Jonathan cannot verbally ‘speak’ to us in a conventional way, his mother read to us excerpts of Jonathan’s stories, his poems and told us of his journey.
I then bought his book to read more from the depths of his incredible otherwise hidden experience of the world.
I marvelled as he painstakingly, letter by letter, using the only part of his body that he can fully control – his EYE – and a spelling board, he carefully shared his frustrations, his loves, his understanding, his faith and experiences of life, education and God – which are a real encouragement and delight to read – and his journey towards finding a way to communicate his voice with the world.
Not satisfied with having a voice, this courageous young man has made it his mission to make sure that all children, who are labelled PMLD, or regardless of any disability, have the same opportunity to be given full access to education and to find and use their voice.
To accomplish his mission, he has set up a charity called ‘Teach Us Too’.
As an educationalist and a writer, this was one of the most moving stories I have encountered – both in meeting Jonathan and in reading his words in this perfect book.
It made me see how much I take for granted and how limited special needs educational understanding and provision currently is. It also made me see how undeveloped and lazy my own vocabulary so often is!
His story is so profoundly important to us all and his heart is beautiful.
What a remarkable story!!
You can find more information about Jonathan’s charity, ‘Teach Us Too’, here
Click here to see a video of him from 2018, when he was 12 years old.
Eliana has lost her identity through a series of broken relationships, dreams and heart-ache and has now perfected the status of a high-class prostitute.
But things are changing in and around Jerusalem! There’s a ‘new man in town’ and he is turning over the tables. This man is a miracle-worker – he is healing people of illnesses, making the lame walk and, even more miraculously, he is giving people new hearts full of love and hope.
Many of her friends in the trade are giving up their professions, helping each other and learning ‘respectable’ trades. Not just her friends, but many other out-casts, tax-collectors and undesirables as well.
She is desirable, of course, but only in secret places; she cannot hold her head up high in public. But Miriam would not wish to give up her life, except maybe to quench the longing in her heart for love, for family…
She is curious…
Should she meet this miracle-man who fed thousands with five loaves?
This man who loves the unlovable?
What would he make of her?
Sophia Anyanwu takes the reader into Eliana’s captive life as Miriam and cleverly introduces her past story, weaving past pain and future hope into this creative tale of human betrayal, struggle, redemption and transformation.
She invites the reader into the fragrance of Jesus’ presence, through those he has already touched, and with them the reader witnesses the life-giving restoration of all who encounter him.
I cried, yearned and empathised with Miriam; I hoped tentatively and courageously with Eliana; and I rejoiced with all the relationships that flourished under the touch of the Kingdom of Heaven.
More importantly I experienced a re-awakening of hope in my own relationships, sensing again the real, life-giving possibilities under the miraculous power of radical love and of forgiveness.
Thank you, Sophia.
The Captive’s Crown can be bought from Amazon, or via Olusola Sophia Anyanwu’s website, where you will see all her other amazing written work.
This must be the first time I have read an entire book in five sittings!
This gripping adventure is billed for teens and older, but as an adult I was gripped by the plot, full of intrigue, mystery and a weaving of relationships and challenges.
Set in the fictional island community of Ximiu, our heroine, Jasira, the daughter of the Governor and a budding detective, discovers a plot to undermine the island’s way of life.
Maressa Mortimer has created a world that has challenged the status quo and put women in power. Her matriarchal world has risen to the challenge of making sacrifices to create a sustainable way of life and future.
The author cleverly approaches some very topical political themes and issues: sustainability, radical green solutions, gender/power inequalities and stereotypes, democracy, exploitation, propaganda, science, genetics and over-population. Her characters grapple with the complexities of change and the practical considerations of forcefully implementing any system.
The relationships between the characters are a forum to explore issues of trust, compromise, team-work and courage, as they learn to face their own strengths and weaknesses to overcome forces larger than themselves.
I take responsibility for the thoughts that came up in myself, but I found myself making many parallels and comparisons with political issues and the contemporary world’s approach to the environmental and climate crisis.
For me, the book reminded me of many themes that disturb me about a move towards a more authoritarian political climate.
I was reflecting on human-trafficking and the exploitation of weaker communities and our pilfering of resources to serve the richest.
I considered the gender inequalities throughout the world and how male and female can have such complimentary qualities, that working together can create a harmonious world.
I saw parallels in media propaganda and the blind acceptance of rhetoric (despite the evidence and their secret resentment) and how the ‘sheeple’ often police the authoritarian agendas, believing that it is ‘all for our own good and for our future’.
I found myself considering possibilities and ways to address climate change that maybe did not involve such drastic measures and sacrifices; that perhaps need not let the ‘babyoutwiththebathwater’.
I saw a world where we inadvertently let ‘science’ dictate policy and let ‘green sustainability’ become the new religion, with a focus on animals and the environment at the expense of human life.
Burrowed also brings the reader on a journey of growth through choices, courage, risk, sacrifice, justice, loss, disappointment and faith.
Emotionally, I worked through the grief and anger that God does not always say Yes in answer to our prayers. Sometimes God seems far away and when we have to deal with grief, pain and injustice, it can feel like God is either unjust or uncaring. Jasira has to process her own response to disappointment and grief, but I was left with hope in the goodness of God and that, though life can sometimes be hard and grieving is dry and grey, that surely ‘this too shall pass’ and we can re-learn to trust, to love and to hope again.
Maressa reminds us that we are allowed to see the splashes of colour in the grey winter, if we refuse to pull up the pretty flowers that appear in the cracks.
Book and Blog review of ‘Leaving Bethany’ by Susan Sutherland
I have always been curious about the relationships between Martha’s family in Bethany and Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Luke.
Personally, reflecting on the gospel account of Martha buzzing around and fretting, whilst Mary sits at Jesus’ feet (having chosen the better way), I always identified more with Martha, and in my 20’s, I took the name of Martha as my confirmation name.
The home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, attracted Jesus and has always attracted me.
When I heard about this book by Susan Sutherland, it was one I had to buy and put at the top of my pile. And I have loved it!
The author, like all good historical fiction writers, takes all that is known from Biblical, cultural and historical documents and colours it in with life and credibility. It was exquisite to explore Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives and Bethany with Martha and to get to know Mary, Lazarus, Jesus and his followers, and even some of her neighbours. I loved the ordinary beauty and details of every day life, which brings depth and personality to the life behind the scenes of the gospel accounts.
It was especially wonderful to continue Martha’s journey, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and to follow her and the other disciples as persecution forced the early Church to scatter and spread throughout the neighbouring lands.
Susan’s writing is moving and thoughtful and I found myself jotting down some beautiful and thought provoking imagery, painted with her words. Such as this, immediately after the death of Lazarus, when Martha said “A thousand sensations shattered the silence.”
No wonder Jesus wept.
I cried, I laughed; I became enraged and enamoured and like Martha, I did not want to leave Bethany.
I am delighted to learn that there is also a sequel coming, so I can find out what became of Martha, her family and the other followers of the way.
Thank you Susan for bringing these beloved characters – even Jesus – to life for me in a new way.
Susan Sutherland also writes a fascinating blog in the form of ‘interviews’ between a ‘Roman journalist,’ Aemilia Metella, and female characters of the New Testament. This is a similar style of narrative non-fiction to ‘Leaving Bethany’ – where the bare-bones and spirit of all we know of factually and historically is fleshed out into a very plausible and probable narrative.
I include a link here to her latest ‘interview’ with Phoebe, who was a benefactor of Paul and delivered an important letter from Paul to the church in Rome.
Earlier this year I became an official member of ACW – the Association of Christian Writers. The wonderful writers and supporters of ACW have been a part of my life for a number of years already, through a Facebook-group communication, and I have gradually made better acquaintance of a variety of talented authors. There have been a number of online events and inspiring groups, that I have availed myself of this year and slowly I am learning how things are done to support other authors.
Having already read a number of books by these wonderful writers, today I challenged myself to write, onto ‘Goodreads’, some outstanding, as in long-awaited, reviews of some of the books I have enjoyed. As I find my way around these forums and portals, I hope to include some more. Here are my brief reviews and recommendations.
The Healing, by Joy Margetts
Set in 1231, this beautiful historical novel takes one deep into the heart of a troubled, noble soldier as he journeys from despair, to find a new, unexpected life and fresh hope in old familiar landscapes. The depth of his raw pain, his recovery and healing are all delicately explored, through the rich characters that one soon comes to love. I was delighted to hear that I sequel novella was coming…
The Beloved, by Joy Margetts
I eagerly read this as an e-book, wanting to reacquaint with the beloved characters from The Healing. This historical novella is set in 1250 and explores gratitude, courtship and the difficult task of making healthy choices. It is a delightful story, that makes one wish to physically roam the unspoilt countryside of Wales too.
Stories From The Heart, by Olusola Sophia Anyanwu
I thoroughly enjoyed these 15 entertaining, captivating short stories. They are clearly written with acute observations of the lives and attitudes of young people in Nigeria in the early 1980’s. Sophia’s own experiences and humour come alive in an authentic voice of the time, filling the stories with life, love and the optimistic concerns and dreams of those emerging into adulthood.
Walled City, by Maressa Mortimer
This is an exciting, dystopian-type adventure to a city world where emotions are banned and life is closely monitored. Infiltrating Elabi and bringing love and hope seems like an impossible mission to Gax… I loved the exploration of the concepts, characters and the story, and can’t wait to read the second book, in the Elabi Chronicles, to uncover the mysteries still to be revealed.
dawnfanshawe 