Colm Toibin

A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that His sacrifice was not for a worthy cause. By the award-winning author of The Master. 25,000 first printing.

The Testament of Mary

Dana Kraft

Thought provoking view of early Christians. Undoubtedly, the story of Jesus looks different today than it did then. For whatever reason, the image that I have of Mary isn't of a mother who is scarred by watching her son get crucified. How could she not have been? I initially thought this book was too short, but now I think that the brevity was enough to get me thinking without delving too far into theology...just right.

A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger, and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that His sacrifice was not for a worthy cause.

Fraser Simons

Fantastic concept very well executed. Beautiful prose. Meryl Streep reads it aloud, one of the best narrations I’ve ever listened to.

cedar winslow

some sad ass shit, interesting to read as someone who has not read the bible cause I’m hearing these stories for the first time. interesting take on the virgin mary, but still a woman written by a man

Caitlin Snyder

Meryl Streep is amazing of course. This book was really sad and such an interesting take on a well known story. I didn't know anything about the author until I looked Tóibín up halfway through - totally thought it was a woman author but nope definitely a man. It shows how well he can write, its usually pretty apparent when it's a male author writing from a woman's perspective. One of his main writing themes is identity after loss which is very apparent in this book.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2013Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary is the moving story of the Virgin Mary, told by a novelist famous for writing brilliantly about the family.From the author of Brooklyn, in a voice that is both tender and filled with rage, The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief. For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, and now, living in exile and in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son's brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil and change. As her life and her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened. In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity, she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history rendered now as fully human.Praise for The Testament of Mary:'This is a short book, but it is as dense as a diamond. It is as tragic as a Spanish pieta, but it is completely heretical...Tóibín maintains all the dignity of Mary without subscribing to the myths that have accumulated around her' Edmund White, Irish Times'Depicting the harrowing losses and evasions that can go on between mothers and sons...Tóibín creates a reversed Pièta: he holds the mother in his arms' Independent 'A beautiful and daring work...it takes its power from the surprise of its language, its almost shocking characterization' Mary Gordon, New York TimesColm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of six novels, including The Blackwater Lightship, The Master, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Brooklyn, which won the Costa Novel Award, and two collections of stories, Mothers and Sons and The Empty Family.

Jade Flynn

“If water can be changed into wine and the dead can be brought back, then I want time pushed back.” 

The Testament of Mary is not about the divine Son of God. It is simply a tale of the Son of Mary. Beautifully humanized. Such eloquence.

Marek R

Jim Hagan

Sonia Grgas

Andréa Mellalieu

Claire Matthews 

Brigid Hogan

Mariel Adrianna de la Garza

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2013Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary is a short, powerful novel about one of the most famous mothers in history.From the author of Brooklyn, in a voice that is both tender and filled with rage, The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief. For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, and now, living in exile and in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son's brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil and change. As her life and her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened. In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity, she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history rendered now as fully human.Praise for The Testament of Mary:'This is a short book, but it is as dense as a diamond. It is as tragic as a Spanish pieta, but it is completely heretical...Tóibín maintains all the dignity of Mary without subscribing to the myths that have accumulated around her' Edmund White, Irish Times'Depicting the harrowing losses and evasions that can go on between mothers and sons...Tóibín creates a reversed Pièta: he holds the mother in his arms' Independent 'A beautiful and daring work...it takes its power from the surprise of its language, its almost shocking characterization' Mary Gordon, New York TimesColm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of six novels, including The Blackwater Lightship, The Master, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Brooklyn, which won the Costa Novel Award, and two collections of stories, Mothers and Sons and The Empty Family.

The Testament of Mary

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