Jill Eileen Smith Dawn of Grace

She's been pulled up from the depths of despair--but what happens when the hope she has found slips from her grasp? From her earliest days, Mary Magdalene has known fear and loss at a level so deep she has no hope of surfacing. Bound to the demons within her and incapable of freeing herself, Mary walks in shadow--until one day she encounters a healer, a rabbi who is radically different from the religious leaders and family members who could do nothing to help her. One touch from Jesus and Mary is never the same. Now Mary's one mission in life is to serve the one who freed her. She is determined never to leave his side, fearing that if she loses him, she'll return to her former bondage. Even when the unthinkable happens and her savior is arrested and sentenced to execution, she cannot abandon him as so many others did. Let her be buried in his tomb, for she cannot live without him. On the brink of despair, Mary is about to discover that while the life of faith is never perfect, perfect love casts out fear--and Jesus makes all things new.