The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is no stranger to the Man Booker prize. He has been shortlisted in 1999 and 2004, and longlisted in 2009. His work is often cited for its originality, beauty and power. Of all the novels longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Tóibín’s is the shortest, coming in at just 104 pages in hardback. The Testament of Mary tells the story of Jesus Christ from his mother’s point of view. Her first person narration brings us close to many of the gospel tales, but from a perspective never accorded them before. To present stories that are so familiar to anybody raised in a Christian country, whose iconography is ubiquitous, must present challenges to any writer: to make those moments seem fresh and startling again is the mark of a master. For in The Testament of Mary, Tóibín manages to breathe new life into the gospel stories, and to bring to life for the reader a woman whom we all think we know, but never truly have. My initial ...