It seems that every few years, some writers in the country of women feel the need to again examine the Jesus mythic legend from the perspective of one of the named women associated with it. Leslie Cannold’s The Book of Rachael is the latest of these.

While Ms Cannold became absorbed in answering questions raised in her mind about Jesus’ sister, the question which sparked my fourth novel, Rumours of Dreams, (Spinifex,1999) was: ‘Given what legend says happened to her, what was Jesus’ mother really like?’

Research necessary to writing a convincing novel set in a different culture 2000 years ago, as well as a culture dealing with an avowedly patriarchal religion, meant a thorough look at what theologians have accurately deduced about Jesus in his own time.

I was aware that in the Scriptures, there was little mention of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), which suited well my own creative purposes, but completely unaware that theologians know little about the man called Jesus.  In fact, the only things they can agree on, is what the biblical texts do not say.

So, having established that fact and done the cultural research, I began my tale of the BVM by beginning with Jesus and his family, as does Ms Cannold. In Rumours of Dreams, we begin with the childhood friendship between Jesus and Mary Magdelene, who is similar in temperament to the Rachael created by Ms Cannold, and who is quite frequently mentioned in the biblical texts. Their meeting and subsequent friendship was the path that took me into Jesus’ home and allowed me to meet his mother.

In creating her personality and character, I looked at what the reality was of life for a young female in those times, especially a beautiful young female. If you do the maths, it is much more likely that the BVM was 13/14 when she was impregnated, rather than 18/19.  And as time has not yet visibly clutched her, almost every female of 13/14 is  “fair of face and form”.

In those times, with men making the rules, an “unchaste” female who was also unmarried was stoned to death. (An emphatic way to make a point, and one that could easily cause fear and panic attacks.) That was, as it still is today, an age of violence. It was, as it still is today, an age of rape. It was, as it still is today, an age of incessant war. It was, as it still is today, an age where poverty afflicted upwards of 35% of the population.

I wanted to find out who Jesus’ mother was because I believe humans cannot climb out of the violence/rape/war/poverty age until women equally share law-making power with men and both sexes realise the purpose of being human is to protect and nurture ALL the world’s children, while working with other living beings to honour our extraordinary Earth.

So thank you, Leslie Cannold, for being the latest in a long line of women writers (A Girl Named Mister, Grimes, 2010;  The Handmaid & the Carpenter, Berg, 2006; The Wild Girl, Beard, 1997; and etc) who pull at the mythic legend of Jesus, trying to find our place there. For me, there isn’t one because of the implacable patriarchy that surrounds it. But it is encouraging that we women always keep trying.

Sandi Hall is a the author of Rumours of Dreams. She is a novelist, playwright and a feminist activist.