Dear and Glorious Physician (1959)

If you want to get a sense of what it was like around the time of Jesus's death, the early spread of Christianity, this is an excellent book. It's about the life of Saint Luke and how he fought against God and Christianity but came to embrace them and wrote his gospel. ( )

Fictionalized but compelling life of Saint Luke. ( )

I disliked this book, though I did finish it. "Fulsome prose." I am no expert, but to me it seemed full of anachronisms and anti-democracy propaganda, cultural stereotypes, and just plain invention. ( )

I read this book as a teen (Early 80's). It was in my grandmother's library and she had the entire collection of Taylor Caldwell. It was a long and tedious read, but boy, Ms. Caldwell could definitely use words.

Phew! They don't write "em like this anymore. So slow and ponderous that I kept it as my bed-time book....subsequently it took me about 3 months to read!! Incredible vocabulary that kept me guiltily running for my dictionary to make sure I could remember what peculid meant, or other hoary terms....but still I"m glad I read it. I guess in her (?) day, Taylor Caldwell stirred quite a pot --- and this was a huge best seller in its time. Intelligent, incredibly well-written (but SLOW), and entertaining for any fan of historical fiction -- particularly if you like the ancient world. As a fictional bio of St. Luke it only got a bit preachy for me at the end.....when Luke meets up with Mary (the mother of....you know Who). Other than that, great entertainment, kind of like watching "The Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston, only in book form!!!