Write Now Literary Book Tours is pleased to be coordinating a book tour for author Joanne Otto. This is a two-month book tour for her books: The You-Song and Daughter of Jerusalem. This tour will run June-July, 2018.
Daughter of Jerusalem
How did you come to write Daughter of Jerusalem?
The basic
outline of the plot had come to me back in the early ‘80s. Two first=century characters
presented themselves very vividly to my mind—a craggy-faced, stern but kind
Pharisee and the spunky teenage (but already marriageable!) daughter with whom,
counter to tradition, he has shared his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. I
wanted to write a book about what it would have been like for these characters to
interact with Jesus during his visits to Jerusalem—a book that would view him
from the perspective of his contemporaries.
What finally gave you the push to
actually write the story?
In 2009 I
happened to share a brief glimpse of the story I’d envisioned with our daughter,
Meghan, and her immediate response was vehement: “Mom, you’ve got to write that
story!”
I tell about
this in the book’s preface because it really was a pivotal moment. For the next
few years I tried to learn all I could about the customs and everyday life of
first-century Jews in Palestine. I also made a second visit to Jerusalem,
trying to imagine my characters in that setting. But after a few years I
realized that I’d gotten so entangled in research that I wasn’t feeling the
creative spark needed to actually make the characters come alive. At that point
I really placed the book in God’s hands. I didn’t care who got credit for
writing it. I just wanted to see it out there blessing its readers. I contacted
an author friend, Angela Sage Larsen, who I felt certain would love the story
as much as I did. She did, but told me that a book contract would prevent her
from collaborating with me for at least a year. I asked her what I could do in
the meantime, and she replied, “Write me an outline.” That sounded a lot more
doable than writing a novella, so I started right in on it. To my amazement it
quickly grew into eleven closely written pages as ideas kept flooding in. I
could see no reason not to try fleshing out the outline, and within six months
I had completed the first draft of the manuscript and enjoyed every moment of
it.
Do you have a favorite scene from the
story that you’d like to share with us?
My very
favorite scene is the one in which the teenage heroine, Mara, has a life-changing
one-on-one encounter with Jesus, who is called, as he would have been at that
time, by his Aramaic name, Yeshua. But further disclosures about that scene
would be a spoiler.
What was it like bringing Jesus into
a fictional story?
It was
challenging, of course, to even begin to do him justice and to catch the right
balance between the human and the divine elements in his nature through words
and actions that would ring true for today’s readers. In doing this I had to view
him through the eyes of my fictional characters, especially Mara. How would his
teaching differ from the scriptural teaching she’d heard up to this point? What
would draw her to him? And a big question I had to answer was how to bring
about her encounter with him in the pivotal scene I mentioned. At a period when
women’s interactions with men were so restricted, especially in public, I
couldn’t have her just walk up to Jesus in the midst of his followers. But the
answer came one day, and it felt as if he had answered my question himself from
the pages of the Bible. Of course! He’d have known intuitively that she wanted
to speak with him. Insights such as this
one made writing Daughter of Jerusalem
richly rewarding.
Were there other challenging issues
you had to work through in writing the book?
Yes. Some
were related to Mara being female and therefore expected to be accompanied by a
male relative when out in public. Since Mara does not have a brother (which is
why her father has taken her on as a Torah-scholar “son”), her options would be
very limited, so there had to be a brother figure in her life. It ended up
being Nathan, who has grown up with her and whose family home is on the same
courtyard as hers. That may be a slight stretch to the conventions of the
period, but Jesus doesn’t seem to have allowed them to limit him. So I went for it.
Another
challenge, believe it or not, was finding the name by which my characters should
refer to God. At first I thought of using “Yahweh,” but YHWH was the secret
name for God that was so sacred it was not to be spoken aloud. Then I
discovered that “Adonai” (Lord) was used in prayer, but that in everyday
conversation the One whose name was too holy to pronounce was referred to as
“HaShem,” the Name. So you’ll see that name used in the book’s dialogue.
Another
challenge was finding the face to represent Mara on the cover. I thought a
Google search for “young woman with head scarf” would do the trick, but what
came up were flirtatious-looking hussies and sun-weathered candidates for National Geographic. Hundreds passed
before my dazed eyes before one intelligent-looking, reasonably attractive
young woman turned up. Thanks to Meghan’s artistry, she now graces the cover of
my book.
What did you learn during the writing
process?
I learned to
trust God as my writing coach. It was often in the morning during my quiet time
with Him that the best ideas would come. One instance comes to mind. It was the
morning after I’d written that one-on-one scene. The thought came to me very
clearly, “You need to add something. After that experience with Yeshua, Mara is
going to be deep in thought, and your readers will want to know what she’s
thinking and feeling.” The paragraph that was added that day ended up being one
of the most important in the entire book. It addresses the question: What
occurs when someone sees another individual the way Jesus saw? If there’s one
key idea I’d like readers to take away from the book, it’s the difference this
godly seeing can make.
Are there any other insights you’d
like them to be aware of?
Yes. I’d
like them to shake off the traditional views of Mary Magdalene and of the
Pharisees. In spite of the way she has been portrayed for centuries, there is
absolutely no biblical evidence that Mary was ever a prostitute. In Luke’s
gospel she is not even introduced until Chapter 8, the one that follows the
account of the nameless outcast who washed and anointed Jesus’ feet. So Mary is
portrayed in my book as a perfectly respectable woman who is a faithful and
grateful disciple of Jesus, and I hope this helps remove some of the stigma
that’s been attached to her.
Another
stigma I hope to remove is the one overshadowing the Pharisees. It is true that
many of them, including Saul of Tarsus, were zealous in their opposition to
Jesus and his followers. But there were some who supported him even when it
meant risking their reputation among fellow Pharisees. Two of them—Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arimathea—were followers of Jesus who saw to it that his body
received a proper burial rather than being left on the cross for birds of prey
as was so often the Roman practice after crucifixions. Both these men play a small
role in Daughter of Jerusalem, and I
hope readers will take note of their courageous support of Jesus at that
crucial time.
What audience do you intend Daughter of Jerusalem to reach?
I generally
tell people it’s for ages ten and up. Although it’s classified as being for the
middle grades, it’s been enjoyed by many adult readers as well, including some
who are well acquainted with the Bible. I would love to see it used as a
springboard for discussions, perhaps by a mother-daughter book club or Christian
youth group, which is why discussion questions on each chapter are included in
the appendix. I also hope it will encourage some readers to dig deeper into the
Bible. That’s why each chapter that specifically relates to one or more Bible passages
has references in the appendix to the books, chapters, and verses where they
can find those passages. And there’s also a glossary in the back with simple
explanations of 20 words—mostly Hebrew ones—of words the reader may not have
encountered before or may wish to know more about. Some readers will just enjoy
reading the story, but others may appreciate these extra resources. It’s all
about providing for a wide range of readers with a variety of interests.
Introducing Joanne
Website: http://joanneotto.com/
The You-Song celebrates, in a way young children can understand, the unique and vital place each of us occupies in God's world and encourages them to fill their place in it with joy. Written by a teacher who's helped many children overcome reading challenges, "The You-Song" is user-friendly, consisting of words that are either familiar or easy to decode. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 50 heart-warming photos, it's also fun to read aloud to pre-readers.
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
About the Book
Daughter of Jerusalem" takes its 21st-century readers on a journey back to the first-century world of a young rabbi named Yeshua—better known to us as Jesus. Mara, the young heroine of this story, gets to mingle with the crowds who come to hear him teach during his visits to Jerusalem and, finally, to meet him face to face in a brief, life-changing encounter—one that comes at no small cost to herself. For middle-grade readers who want to use the book as a springboard for deeper study, there are Bible references and questions on each chapter, as well as a glossary. For others, the story itself will be the full journey.
Genre: Christian Fiction
Purchase Link: http://amazon.com/author/joanneotto
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Michelle Lynn Stephens is an Indie Poet and #1 Bestselling Author with Brown Girls Books. She has a heart for helping others and assisting them in sharing their vision with the world. Visit her anytime at http://www.michellelynnstephens.com.
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