Journeys in the Shadow of the Cross

This is the third book of a series on the life and legacy of Jesus of Nazareth, as told by his cousin Veronica. We rejoin the story after his death and ascension, at the event known as the Pentecost. His followers had gathered in Jerusalem for the Harvest Festival when a mystical overshadowing reveals the work awaiting them. By the end of that day they know who among them will be taking his teachings out into the world and who will stay behind in Israel. Veronica is called to join the Disciple Thomas on his journey to the east. Along the way she and a few others leave the group to complete a project in Tibet that Jesus had left unfinished during the time he lived there ... eventually reuniting with Thomas in India after its completion. Veronica and her sister Elizabeth eventually go on to Ephesus in Anatolia (Turkey) where they live with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Ephesus serves as the base from which she accompanies the Apostle Paul during two of his trips through Hellas (Greece). Eventually her uncle Joseph (of Arimathea) takes her to live in the Hebrew immigrant communities of Britannia (Britain). And finally, after many years of travel and teaching, Veronica and her husband establish a sister community to Magdalene's in southern Gaul (France). Through Veronica we experience the oppression of the Hebrew people and their increasingly desperate circumstances at the hands of their Roman rulers , culminating in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Hoping to escape persecution after the death of Jesus they scatter to other lands, suffering hardships of every kind while having to learn to adapt to lands and cultures altogether different than their own. All the while the followers of Jesus (who are a minority among their own people) struggle to bring an accounting of his teaching, his death and resurrection to anyone who will listen. In time these teachings begin to merge with ancient beliefs and practices ... seeding a new people and a new religion from the far reaches of India through the Middle East and into the northern kingdoms. "Veronica: The Lost Years of Jesus", book one of the series, focuses upon the period left out of the Christian Bible, when Jesus traveled and studied with the great masters of the age in Egypt, Persia, India and Tibet. Through Veronica's story we come to know the women who played a crucial role in his later ministry. As members of the Jewish Essene sect many of these women studied with the same teachers in Israel and Egypt as Jesus had. The Essenes, a loosely-knit group associated with an ancient Brotherhood of adepts that stretched across the known world, was often looked upon with suspicion by the traditional Jewish power structure. Book two, "Veronica: Eyewitness to the Ministry of Jesus", chronicles the three years of his public ministry, paralleling accounts in the Christian New Testament. Both women and men number among his followers, accompanying him in his travels as he teaches and ministers to people of every religion and race. The story comes to a climax with his death, resurrection and ascension ... leaving his followers angry, bewildered and frightened as the hand of Rome bears down upon them. Visit www.jacelyneckman.com for more information on the author, the "Veronica" trilogy and Jacelyn's other writing.