Anne Rice continues the tale of Yeshua in her recent series dedicated to him. this time, she takes on the story of the wedding at Cana, where Yeshua had one of his best-known miracles (the water-into-wine one).

The story starts off with a unique story. The village of Nazareth flies into a frenzy that leads to a stoning when two boys are accused of homosexuality. While it is not fully stated, it is clear what the problem is when Yeshua is accused of being odd for being as old as he is and not being married. He must be just like the those two young men. It is an interesting presentation, that fits the dedication of the book to her gay son Christopher Rice, author and columnist for The Advocate.

Yeshua has no doubts about his sexuality, though. He is clearly in love with a cousin named Avigail that also lives in the village. She is considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the area. The problems is that he must balance his feelings with what he must do in the name of the Father.

Rice does a wonderful job of presenting the humanity of the Christ. While he clearly has the abilities and the wisdom that Christians have come to know, readers also get a clear glimpse to the doubts that sometimes haunted him, and which we all hear of during the night before his crucifixion. The story carries through until the period where the Bible starts presenting his baptism and the growth of his ministry.

In many ways, this is a nice introduction to the Scripture for those who find the stilted language in the Bible to be a bit difficult to follow.