Pilate's Wife

Summary (from the publisher): A daughter of privilege in the most powerful empire the world has ever known, Claudia has a unique and disturbing "gift": her dreams have an uncanny way of coming true. As a rebellious child seated beside the tyrannical Roman Emperor Tiberius, she first spies the powerful gladiator who will ultimately be her one true passion. Yet it is the ambitious magistrate Pontius Pilate who intrigues the impressionable young woman she becomes, and Claudia finds her way into his arms by means of a mysterious ancient magic. Pilate is her grand destiny, leading her to Judaea and plunging her into a seething cauldron of open rebellion. But following her friend Miriam of Magdala's confession of her ecstatic love for a charismatic religious radical, Claudia begins to experience terrifying visions--horrific premonitions of war, injustice, untold devastation and damnation . . . and the crucifixion of a divine martyr whom she must do everything in her power to save.

Review: I loved this unusual perspective from the Roman Empire during the life of Jesus. Little is known about Pontius Pilate's wife Claudia, other than she likely was from a wealthy family and of a higher social class than her husband. May has created an intriguing image of what Claudia's life might have been like.

Claudia is a great worshipper of Isis and a major theme of the book is her connection to the Goddess, religious rituals, and her ability to sometimes predict the future. I didn't anticipate that from this novel since I always associate Pilate within the story of Christianity, which was probably foolish on my part since Christianity was just in its beginning stages at this point. As a side note, there were times in this novel that I forgot the significance of who Claudia's husband is. Claudia's love for Holtan is far more important than Pilate and his occupation. It's not until the very conclusion of the novel that the whole Jesus part of the story comes into play, surprisingly.

I loved reading about a different time period but I did feel like some of the historical background was glossed over - I wanted to learn more about what life was like for a woman like Claudia in that time period from her story. Additionally, I felt like this book lacked character development aside from Claudia herself. I wasn't upset when any of the other main characters died, even though I probably should have been as a reader. But I just didn't have a firm grasp of any of them to really care. However, in all, it was interesting to consider the story of Jesus' crucifixion from a very different point of view and read about life during the Roman Empire.


Stars: 3