A story-teller from childhood, in her early teens she became an avid reader, especially of novels with religious themes. After years of marriage, child-rearing, and teaching, in '90 and '92, she and her husband made two guided tours to the Holy Land where she visited the sites featured in this book-the third to be published in her series of biblical historical novels, THE EAGLE AND THE STONE, which deal with the Early Church from 33 through 42 A.D. from the viewpoint of the Romans. In her writing, she has used a variety of biblical, historical, and archaeological materials-including copies of the National Geographic Magazine going back over half a century. Readers like her short chapters and believable characters. They tell her that that she has the gift of combining scholarship with simplicity and readability.