Mailbox Mondays

Monday Mailbox is hosted by Marcia

I received the following two books:

The Alexandria Letter by George R. Honing

After Cambridge scholar Nathan Tobin discovers and translates an ancient Aramaic letter, he finds himself thrown into an agonizing struggle against powerful forces committed to discrediting him and destroying the letter . “The Alexandria letter” discloses surprising revelations about the lives of Jesus and John the Baptist, and even more surprising insights into the machinations of Paul of Tarsus, which together reveal a dramatically different picture of early events in the development of Christianity.

But as Nathan races to verify the authenticity of the letter, he faces rejection by his fellow scholars and sinister opposition from the Vatican, that aims to stop him at any cost. The Alexandria letter represents the most important work Nathan has ever done, but it may also be his last.

The Queen Of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

"I need you to understand how ordinary it all was. . . ."

In the turbulent southern summer of 1963, Millwood's white population steers clear of "Shake Rag," the black section of town. Young Florence Forrest is one of the few who crosses the line. The daughter of a burial insurance salesman with dark secrets and the town's "cake lady," whose backcountry bootleg runs lead further and further away from a brutal marriage, Florence attaches herself to her grandparents' longtime maid, Zenie Johnson. Named for Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, Zenie treats the unwanted girl as just another chore, while telling her stories of the legendary queen's courage and cunning.

The more time Florence spends in Shake Rag, the more she recognizes how completely race divides her town, and her story, far from ordinary, bears witness to the truth and brutality of her times—a truth brought to a shattering conclusion when Zenie's vibrant college-student niece, Eva Greene, arrives that fateful Mississippi summer.