Hadassah, a female Jewish slave, has been thrown to lions. She is rescued and nursed back to health by Alexander, a doctor. She works in partnership with him and becomes known as "Rapha" or healer. Her faith in God gives her care an added dimension which people respect and revere.
Marcus Valerian, a Roman, who wanted to marry Hadassah before she was thrown to the lions, believes she is dead and goes on a quest to Palestine to find Hadassah's God.
Marcus returns to Ephesus and finds his sister, Julia, terminally ill and penniless, and brings her into his house.
Ultimately, Hadassah ends up nursing Julia, the person responsible for sending Hadassah to her supposed death, while Marcus continues to grieve for his lost love, not realising she is the one who tends to Julia.
An encouraging story of faith and forgiveness. ( )

Francine Rivers paints a detailed picture of life in the Roman Empire. She gets into who her characters are inside rather than just how they appear on the surface. The book is Christian fiction, in the best sense of the word. The main character is a Christian Jew who is taken captive when Jerusalem falls to the Romans. The story is very much about how her faith effects her life and the lives of those around her, and it is shown not by sermon snippets but by her actions. I highly recommend the book. Much of what is sold as Christian fiction couldn't be sold to those without faith because the stories are trite and the dialogue preachy. This book could be enjoyed even by someone who didn't care a bit about religion ( )

Great Book! wonderful story. This is book #2 in series, so I read them out of order. This was very good, but I ook forward to knowing more tof the story. ( )

Book 2 in Mark of the Lion series. ( )

Second in the Mark of the Lion Trilogy. Marcus goes on a journey to learn about the God of the Jews. ( )