The Fragrant Ones

"...what she has done will also be told, in memory of her..." The words of Jesus on the first page of a book entitled The Fragrant Ones, combined with some scrawled letters, are the only clues Jennifer has to unlock the meaning of her mother's last wishes. Meanwhile, her hope of having a life with Jeb--a tortured artist who is dying of AIDS and the only man she has ever loved--is fading quickly as the disease consumes his body. Her search for answers compels her to finally read the book her mother left behind--a tale of love, lust, betrayal and redemption, set in Palestine at the time of Christ. In doing so, she realizes that the sad chapters of her own life are in fact coming together, like a divinely crafted story, overflowing with the hope her mother longed for her to have. This is a story that does not shrink from depicting the effects of sexual brokenness as well as the deep and often desperate yearning for love, significance and spiritual identity which pulses in every human heart. At the same time, the seeds of hope, healing and forgiveness are sprinkled throughout the narrative, which moves steadily toward a redemptive end. Told as a tale-within-a-tale, this is a story that will move and inspire the reader; this is fiction that feeds faith. "An evocative depiction of the natures of womanhood and discipleship." Kirkus Review