Pillar of Fire

Joyce Hollyday is the author of several books, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us. She has been a pastor on death row, an advocate for survivors of domestic violence, and an ally of immigrant women. As an editor of Sojourners magazine, she traveled extensively to cover faith-based efforts for justice and peace in the US, war-torn Nicaragua, and apartheid-era South Africa. She lives in Vermont on traditional Abenaki land.

In an age of intolerance, compassion can be dangerous. Pillar of Fire captures the stunning witness of the medieval mystics known as Beguines. Amid the intrigues of kings and knights, against a panorama of church corruption, Crusader campaigns, and Inquisition trials, these bold women broke all the rules. In this sweeping historical saga, young Clarissa flees from a forced marriage, befriends a colorful minstrel, and unravels the mystery of a midwife's murder.After a spiritual pilgrimage to the Egyptian desert, she returns with a Muslim orphan and gathers a community of devoted sisters. Threats come when they offer refuge to people suffering from leprosy and a Jewish family under persecution. When church officials get word of their rituals celebrating the feminine aspects of God and of Clarissa's mystical visions, they charge her with heresy and turn up the heat, as she struggles with the wound of betrayal and discovers the power of forgiveness.