title: A New Creation
author: Lawson, Jayne
description: In a world under Roman oppression, Hadassah, like so many other Jews throughout her country, longs for the promised Messiah. Unexpected encounters with a miracle-working rabbi and a skeptical Roman centurion change her life in ways she never anticipated. Just as Hadassah is beginning to believe the Jewish Messiah has come, she witnesses his execution at the hand of the one her heart was beginning to trust. Doubly shattered, she wrestles with her own guilt and lack of faith. Will Hadassah ever forgive the one who betrayed her? Will she ever find peace in her soul? Marcus Caelinus is a seasoned Roman centurion, valiant on the battlefield and completely dedicated to Caesar. Despite his displeasure at being sent to Israel, Marcus is determined to follow his orders in maintaining control over the ancient land. His steadfast loyalty to Rome and its gods is soon challenged by the fiery young woman caring for his stepmother. Finding her devotion to a Jewish rabbi grossly misplaced, Marcus seeks to understand the man she idolizes, however, when the rabbi threatens the stability of the region, Marcus is determined to intervene. When he is ordered to execute the rabbi, Marcus is faced with the possibility that everything he has heard could be true, and that brings him to a crossroads in his life. Will Marcus be able to see the rabbi for who he truly is? Will he ever surrender his pagan beliefs to follow the true God of Israel? When the lives of Hadassah and Marcus collide in Roman-occupied Israel, sparks fly. The fierce fire in her spirit for her God is only matched by the hardness of Marcus' animosity for anything Jewish, including her precious Healer. Will the words of an itinerant preacher finally unite the young Jewess and the Roman centurion in a common faith, or will they part ways, never to see one another again?