Rough Draft is excited to welcome author Sophie Strand for a celebration and signing of her new book, The Madonna Secret.

Sophie will be visiting from 2 to 4 pm on Sunday, August 27th, to chat about her work and sign copies of The Madonna Secret. RSVPs via Eventbrite are not required but they are appreciated. (They help us stay in touch in case of changes, and they give us an idea of how many people to expect.). You can RSVP here.

In The Madonna Secret, Sophie Strand resurrects a richly textured world where complex characters reveal the lived reality of scripture and open familiar sayings to radical new meanings and possibilities.

When Leukas, a Christian convert, ventures into the wilds of Gaul to receive the hidden teachings from Mary Magdalene before she dies, he discovers that hidden within the Gospels he thinks he knows is an epic love story—between an educated Jewish woman overwhelmed by her mysterious spiritual powers and a sensual magician devoted to the wisdom of the earth. The secrets she will reveal are both more shocking and more tragic than anything readers have encountered before.

Beginning with Miriam’s childhood as a member of a wealthy Jewish family living outside of Bethany, we see her struggles as a young woman with spiritual curiosity and intellectual aspirations that drive her to combat the violence of Empire and the sexism of her own culture. Propelled by mystic visions, Miriam is finally drawn into the wilds of Galilee, where her destiny collides with a mischievous rabbi who will change her and the world forever. Trapped in a mythic story unfolding in events around them, the lovers strive not to repeat a tragedy older than the pyramids.

Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. She is the author of The Flowering Wand, The Madonna Secret, and forthcoming memoir on disability and ecology The Body is a Doorway: Healing Beyond Hope, Healing beyond the Human. Subscribe for her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com. And follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.

Copies of the book will be for sale during the signing, while supplies last. You can also preorder a copy HERE.