Foreword by Richard Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Classics, Australian National University;Honorable Mentions in both the 2016 Paris and New York Book Festivals.
Historical fiction about the controversial Saint Jerome is given a contemporary twist. Commissioned by the Pontiff in 382 AD to translate the Bible into Latin, Jerome is assisted by the attractive widow Paula, as devoted to Jerome as she is to his cause. Rumours circulate as his enemies plot to dispose of Jerome...
Foreword by Richard Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Classics, Australian National University;Honorable Mentions in both the 2016 Paris and New York Book Festivals.
Historical fiction about the controversial Saint Jerome is given a contemporary twist. Commissioned by the Pontiff in 382 AD to translate the Bible into Latin, Jerome is assisted by the attractive widow Paula, as devoted to Jerome as she is to his cause. Rumours circulate as his enemies plot to dispose of Jerome...
Historical fiction about the controversial Saint Jerome is given a contemporary twist.When the Pontiff commissions Jerome to translate the Bible into Latin, it is a political masterstroke set to establish Christianity as a world religion. Yet Jerome is his own worst enemy, and his famously sarcastic wit quickly alienates the ruling elite. As rumours circulate about his relations with the beautiful widow Paula, as devoted to him as she is to his cause, his enemies see their opportunity to dispose of Jerome once and for all...Includes a Foreword by Richard Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Classics, Australian National University.Joan O'Hagan is a crime writer and author of A Roman Death (Macmillan 1988). Thanks to meticulous research, a wicked imagination, and over thirty years of living in Rome, she breathes new life into an ancient saint and his world, drawing us irresistibly into a highly-charged world of danger and intrigue while reminding us to question our own values.Author's website: Reviews'This is more than a historical novel bringing alive to us an unfamiliar time and society. It is essentially a story about human hearts and minds facing challenges that, in time, confront us all.'Richard Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Classics, ANU'Offers incredible insight into the achievements of a much maligned yet very important figure... and the women surrounding him.'Dr Mario Baghos, St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney(full review published Literature and Aesthetics, 2016)'An insight into extraordinary times and people, and into a talented researcher and writer.' Robert Fairhead, NSW Writers' Centre Centre:'O'Hagan gives her readers a fascinating look at the man behind that controversial masterpiece' (the Vulgate).Joanna Urquhart, Historical Novel Society'If you have a religious/theological interest and want to see real historical characters who are involved in those matters brought to life, this is your book. If you have limited interest in these topics... I think you might still find the characters and story presented here fascinating.'Fred Mench, Professor of Classics, Emeritus Richard Stockton University (NJ),Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group, 2015education.classics/63410
"Jerome & His Women is a meticulously researched and well informed novel that re-creates - in vivid detail - a crucial period in the history of Western Christianity, and the men and women who shaped it. In doing so, it offers incredible insight into the achievements of a much maligned yet very important figure, namely St Jerome, and the women surrounding him who - in taking a stand against the luxurious and often debased social conventions of late antique Rome - were trailblazers in their own right ... Joan O'Hagan shows incredible adeptness in translating some of Jerome's theological sentiments - particularly his praise of virginity as a superior way of life to marriage - into narrative (especially reflected in his Letter 22: To Eustochium).";Mario Baghos, Lecturer in Church History, St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney, Literature and Aesthetics: The Journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics (SSLA), 2016;"O'Hagan's fifth and last novel is set in Ancient Rome, at the end of the fourth century AD. It is a time of upheaval for the Roman Empire, with internal rioting and external threats, and pagan beliefs and gods giving way to the spread of Christianity and the worship of a new, monotheistic God ... That's the twin gift of Jerome and His Women: it is an insight into extraordinary times and people, and into a talented researcher and writer.";Robert Fairhead, NSW Writers' Centre, 2016;"O'Hagan concentrates on the Roman women in his life, including his patron, Paula, and as the novel progresses, it proves a canny narrative choice: through his dealings with these women, the full breadth of Jerome's problematic personality - both his prickly, argumentative side and, far more winningly, his inner tenderness and quiet introspection ... The Vulgate of Jerome was one of the most pivotal and important religious documents in the history of Christianity, and O'Hagan gives her readers a fascinating look at the man behind that controversial masterpiece.";Joanna Urquhart, Historical Novel Society, 2016 ;"(O'Hagan) ... makes this flawed genius more understandable as a human being ... and gives us the wonderful story of St Paula of Rome, patron saint of widows ... That story alone is enough to recommend this book."John Scanlon, National Council of Priests of Australia, The Swag, Spring 2016 ;"If you have a religious/theological interest and want to see real historical characters who are involved in those matters brought to life, this is your book. If you have limited interest in these topics,then you might prefer something that deals more with politics, intrigue and wars or romance, but I think you might still find the characters and story presented here fascinating and certainly enlightening.";Fred Mench, Professor of Classics, Emeritus Richard Stockton University (NJ), Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group, 2015 education.classics/63410
Joan O'Hagan was an Australian author of crime fiction. She published five novels:'Incline and Fall: The Death of Geoffrey Stretton' (Angus & Robertson, 1976)'Death and a Madonna' (Macmillan 1986, Doubleday 1987)'Against the Grain' (Macmillan 1987, Doubleday 1988, Mondadori 1988)'A Roman Death' (Macmillan 1988, Doubleday 1989, Tokyo Hawakawa Publishing 1990, Legenda 1990)'Jerome and His Women' (Black Quill Press, 2015).
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