“Bright Dark Madonna” by Elizabeth Cunningham Released by Monkfish Book Publishing Company

(SANEPR.com) April 17, 2009 -- Monkfish Book Publishing Company is proud to announce the publication of “Bright Dark Madonna, A Novel” (April 2009) by Elizabeth Cunningham. The novel is the third installment of THE MAEVE CHRONICLES series which feature Cunningham’s signature heroine, Maeve, the Celtic, and unrepentant, Mary Magdalen. “Bright Dark Madonna” is the sequel to the popular “The Passion of Mary Magdalen” (2006) which won wide acclaim including a starred review from “Booklist”, a nomination for Book of the Year Award from “ForeWord Magazine” and chosen as “One of the Best Spiritual Books of 2006” by the media editors of “Spirituality & Health Magazine”.

In “Bright Dark Madonna”, after playing an intimate role in the mystery of the Resurrection, we find out what is left for Maeve, the Celtic Mary Magdalen. No sooner does Maeve open her mouth to preach the gospel her way, than a fierce debate begins about what to do with the child she is carrying. Maeve has her own ideas about where best to raise the savior’s scion. When she returns to Temple Magdalen, the holy whorehouse she founded, a custody battle of Biblical proportions ensues. Maeve, her infant daughter Sarah, and Jesus’s mother flee to the remote Taurus Mountains where they live in hiding among the Galatians until a mysterious man is dumped on their doorstep more dead than alive. When Maeve discovers the identity of the man she has healed, she is appalled and determined to keep her family’s secret. But Maeve has reckoned without the will of her brilliant, angry adolescent daughter who resolves to find out the truth about her father—for herself. Required reading for fans of THE MAEVE CHRONICLES but accessible to those new to the series, “Bright Dark Madonna” takes the reader on a breathtaking journey from the Temple porticoes of Jerusalem, to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, to the South of France—and as always: the treacherous, beautiful terrain of the human heart.

Cunningham is currently on national book tour appearing at bookstores and other venues around the country. Her presentations are unique, lively, and not to be missed. Cunningham is also working on the fourth installment in The Maeve Chronicles, which tells the story of Maeve's return to the British Isles.

Elizabeth Cunningham is the direct descendant of nine generations of Episcopal priests. She grew up hearing rich (sometimes terrifying) liturgical and biblical language. When she was not in church or school, she read fairytales and fantasy novels or wandered in the enchanted wood of an overgrown, abandoned estate next door to the rectory. Her religious background, the magic of fairytales, and the numinous experience of nature continue to inform her work. After being altogether too good and studious during her earliest years, Cunningham was expelled from a progressive boarding school for nudity. She subsequently earned a GED and went on to The College of General Studies at Boston University. From there she transferred to Harvard-Radcliffe College where graduated in 1976 with BA in English and American language and literature. Somehow, she resisted the temptation to go to seminary to study for the Episcopal priesthood. The possibility was especially tempting, because, at that time, ordination of women was not allowed. When the church ruled in favor of women’s ordination a few months later, she heaved a sigh of relief and went on writing the The Wild Mother, her first novel, hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a beguiling tour de force.” Although Cunningham managed to avoid becoming an Episcopal priest, she graduated from The New Seminary in 1997 and was ordained as an interfaith minister and counselor. Both The Maeve Chronicles and her interfaith ministry express Cunningham’s profound desire to reconcile her Christian roots with her call to explore the divine feminine. Since her ordination, Cunningham has been in private practice as a counselor and maintains that the reading and writing of novels has been has been as important to this work as her seminary training. The mother of grown children, Cunningham lives with her husband in a sacred grove in the Hudson Valley.
Monkfish Book Publishing Company is an independent press in Rhinebeck, New York publishing books that combine spiritual and literary merit. Monkfish books are distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.

Advance Praise for “Bright Dark Madonna”:

“…scholarship, whimsy, and delectable fiction” -- Susan Corso, Huffington Post and Ode Magazine

“… plenty of juicy controversy embodied by vivid characters and expressed in vigorous action, all in crisply drawn biblical settings.”—Booklist

“Elizabeth Cunningham has again delved into her fabulous treasure trove of impeccable research, and come up with gold.” —Katherine Neville, author of The Eight and The Fire

" Reading Bright Dark Madonna is a sheer joy." —Tom Cowan, author of Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit

"Powerful, moving, hilariously funny, a brilliant blend of paganism and Christianity…”
—Mary Swander, author of The Desert Pilgrim: En Route to Mysticism and Miracles

“The best one yet!”—Catherine MacCoun, author of On Becoming an Alchemist

For more information on Bright Dark Madonna and for the author book tour schedule, visit www.passionofmarymagdalen.com. For additional information, to arrange a press interview with Elizabeth Cunningaham, or to arrange to have the author speak at your book group (either in person or via speakerphone), please contact: Linda Woznicki at 845-417-8811 or linda@monkfishpublishing.com.

BRIGHT DARK MADONNA
A Novel
The Maeve Chronicles
ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM
ISBN 978-09798828-7-6
April 2009
Hardcover, 474 pages
$26.00 USA and Canada