coauthors:Claire Rudolf Murphy, Mary Cronk Farrell, Sarah Conover & Betsy Wharton

Set in the Holy Lands, Daughters of the Desert, is about ancient women--daring, thoughtful, and wise--who played exciting roles in the early days of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Most of the women included in this collection are decedents of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. The stories highlight women in crucial moments or circumstances of their lives, which in many cases mark pivotal points in their respective religions.

Daughters became a spiritual adventure for its authors. Their research, conversations and meditations pushed them beyond the Christian traditions in which they were raised; enlarged and enriched their views of the different faiths they explored.

Reviews of Daughters of the Desert

Publishers Weekly - “These five authors, of Jewish and Christian backgrounds, originally set out to write about ancient women from their own faith traditions, but realized through the story of Hagar that they also needed to “embrace another branch of the family tree”: Islam...The device of using short stories to better establish these women’s characters and spiritual motivations works well and should appeal to a wide audience.” –March 2003

Booklist - “Women, though mentioned in the holy books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, have really gotten their due. This book tries to rectify that situation...An interesting way of showing how three religions spring from the same sandy landscape.” –Ilene Cooper

Catholic Book Publishers Association – Daughters of the Desert ranked eighth in the top ten hardcover book sales list, June 2003.

New Age Retailer - “At a time when strife between faiths is heightened–and surely this has not been uncommon throughout their shared histories–it is refreshing to find stories from these three (monotheistic) religions together in one volume...These are not the “usual” versions of these stories, however...Rather, they take readers back to the days just before the scriptural mentions, revealing qualities of the women’s everyday lives that may have led to the parts they played in scripture.” –S. Aurin Harber

Praise for Daughters of the Desert

"A recovery of the wisdom of women in the great Abrahamic religions is long overdue. Daughters of the Desert is a knock-out contribution to that project. Read the stories, fill your heart, share the wealth with others. This book deserves to become a classic of twenty-first century spiritual reading. Cherish it."

--Mitch Finley, author of Prayer for People Who Think Too Much
and The Joy of Being Catholic.

"How refreshing to find the stories of women from Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. They are like water in the desert offering new voices and new hope to our generation."

"These engaging stories of women, some of whom are important to all three religions, and some known only to one, help build bridges of understanding between religions and demonstrate the importance of religion in our lives."

-- Dr. Freda Crane, member, Islamic Society of North America.

"Some stories speak powerful narratives. Others point to new understandings of our world. Still others ask questions of justice, mercy, and devotion within communities. Daughters of the Desert speaks and points and questions in all three ways, with stories about women from three spiritual traditions. Their ancient journeys Jewish, Christian, and Muslim startlingly and wonderfully like our own, call us to and encourage us in our own paths to God."

--Gary Schmidt, author of Winter: The Spiritual Biography of the Season
and William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim.

Excerpts

Daughters of the Desert

Stories by Meghan Nuttall Sayres

(click on each to read)

Crumbs from the Table: A Story of Eleni (Christian)

Weaving a Church: A Story of Lydia (Christian)

A Faith Blossoms: A Story of Khadija (Muslim)

The Merchant Boys' Prank: A Story of Zarah (Muslim)

Related Reading On Abrahamic Faiths

"Jewish, Christian and Muslim people agree that God is One--Creator of the Universe. We have much in common and on which we agree--and much that we disagree about--and that causes us too often to look at each other with suspicion and mistrust. Abraham, the friend of God, is spiritually the shared ancestor of half the people alive today...In the story of Abraham we can find justification for continued suspicion and mistrust, or we can find Abraham the point of contact, the cornerstone for a new relationship."

--Sheila Musaji, Editor, The American Muslim, www. AmericanMuslim.org,
"The Legacy of Abraham," Nov-Dec, 2002.

"Whether the idea comes to us in a vision...or as in the final step in a series of rational thoughts on the subject of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the world of the 21st century, whether in prayer or meditation, in discourse or dialogue, no one who considers the subject for long can fail to come to the conclusion that sincere men and women--Jews, Christians and Muslims--must find fresh ways to bridge the ancient divisions and modern hatreds and to link our three religions together more closely, while each remains itself, losing nothing of its essence but gaining strength from its links to others."

--Thomas Cahill, LIFE Magazine, HOLY LANDS: One Place Three Faiths,
Vol. 2, No. 8, November 25, 2002.

"I had been coming to Jerusalem often in recent years...My experience in that region persuaded me that it is possible--maybe even necessary--to gain insight into a contemporary situation by turning away from the present and looking back to its historical source. Especially in matters of faith, even the modern act is informed by centuries of intermingled belief, blood and misunderstanding.

And in that conflagration, as it has for four millennia, one name echoes behind every conversation. One figure stands at the dawn of every subsequent endeavor. One individual holds the breath of the past--and perhaps the dimensions of the future--in his life story. Abraham."

--Bruce Feiler, Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths,
William Morrow , 2002.

Photographs from Philippi, Greece – the setting for the story, “Weaving a Church,” featuring Lydia and St. Paul.

Links to coauthors of Daughters of the Desert:

www.ClaireRudolfMurphy.com , www.MaryCronkFarrell.com & Betsy Wharton

Links to Interfaith/Religious Organizations:

MiddleEastPeaceAppeal http://www.ncccusa.org/news/MiddleEastPeaceAppeal.html

Community of Sant Egidio (worldwide ecumenical community) http://www.santegidio.org/en/

U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East
16020 94th Avenue, NW
Stanwood, WA 98292
Tel/Fax: (360) 652 4285
E mail: usicpme@aol.com

Executive Director
Ronald J. Young

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