What I’m Reading: The Nazarene’s Price

What I’m Reading this week is The Nazarene’s Price, the debut biblical fiction story of Donna K. Stearns. Elk Lake Press published this title. The story is available in both eBook and paperback.

Biblical fiction is not my go-to genre. I read very little of it. The closest I think I’ve read is the historical re-telling of Jacob’s story from Liz Curtis Higgs, and seeing how that’s set in Scotland, it’s not really biblical fiction. Good thing you don’t have to be a huge fan of the genre to really enjoy this book!

First, I love the cover. It feels like I’m standing at that window looking out on the world. I’m part of the action. If I’m invited into the story before I ever read the first page, I call that a win. Kudos to the cover designer. I can’t imagine a more perfect cover for this book.

I find it amazing that someone can take the brief appearance of the rich young ruler in scripture and craft an entire story around him. But really, the man had a life. God didn’t just pop him into creation for a five minute talk with Jesus and then make him disappear. The author beautifully fleshes out possible details of this very real man’s life and weaves them with true accounts from scripture transporting readers to Israel at the time Jesus walked the earth. Matthias’s story (because that is the name the author gave the unnamed ruler) is one of seeking truth about Jesus. I think that’s something we can all relate to and learn from. And The Nazarene’s Price encourages readers to do just that with an engaging story and a cast of characters both new and familiar.

For this week’s What I’m Reading, I give The Nazarene’s Price five stars.

Here’s where you can  read a preview and get a copy of The Nazarene’s Price.