I have to say at first that this book bothered me.  I was a little taken aback by the blend of pop-culture in a story that takes place in the first century CE.  However, once I got past that I quickly became completely engrossed in the book. 

Magdalen Rising: The Beginning is the tale of young Mauve, the girl who will grow up to be Mary Magdalen, only she’s not Jewish.  Far, far from it.  This girl lives on the Shining of Women or "Tir na mBan" in Ireland. Maeve grows up running wild about the island with eight doting mothers who pretty much let her run amuck. 

Maeve is told her father is a God of the sea and she often tries to find him in the waves around the island.  Eventually, she is old enough to go to Druid school on the mainland and has to leave the island and the company of her mothers.

At Druid school she meets in person Esus the Jew, or Jesus, who is also trying out for the school.  He’s traveled from Egypt to learn from the druids.  Maeve has actually seen Esus before in a vision and quickly becomes attached to him.  They are soul mates.

There are a lot of incredibly diverse and interesting characters in this story, including one mysterious red-haired man that seems to have a connection to Maeve.  She always gets really nervous around him but she can’t quite put her finger on what exactly it is with him.

One of the elements I found really interesting about Magdalene Rising was the meeting of Goddess worship and Celtic pantheism with Judaism.  Esus is drawn to Maeve but also thinks she’s a witch.  While she takes joy in her monthly cycles, he feels she is unclean and is grossed out.  He’s drawn to the Druidic magic even while being repulsed by it and thinking it wrong.  It’s completely fascinating. 

Elizabeth Cunningham knows how to tell a heck of a story, especially with the fascination of the early feminism-meets-patriarchy twist.