Journey to the Well

Title: JOURNEY TO THE WELL
Author: Diana Wallis Taylor
Publisher: Revell Books
March 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3309-4
Genre: Inspirational/biblical fiction/Women’s fiction

Did you ever wonder what happened to make the woman at the well the way she was?

Marah is only thirteen, but considered a woman in her Samaritan community. She is also in love with her childhood friend, Jesse. But Jesse is a poor shepherd boy and he fears he is unable to pay the bride price so he hesitates to speak to his father about marrying Marah. When Marah’s aunt (and guardian) wants to return to her hometown, she basically sells Marah to be wife of the one man in town that Marah fears, the sandal maker.

Forced to abandon her dreams of happiness, Marah sets out to just survive. But in a cast of many men who are out to use her, even survival is a challenge. Will Marah ever meet a man who can save her?

JOURNEY TO THE WELL is the fictionalized account, the author’s view, of what might have happened to the woman that Jesus met at the well. The woman who claimed that He told her everything that happened to her. Readers of biblical fiction will enjoy following Marah from her younger years through all the circumstances that might have caused her to have more than one husband, and the methods that a desperate woman used for survival.

I enjoyed getting to know Marah, and her friend Hannah. I often felt for Marah, who was the same age as my oldest daughter is when the story started. I can’t imagine my daughter being forced into the same circumstances as Marah at the age of thirteen. JOURNEY TO THE WELL is a well-researched portrayal of Marah’s life. Don’t miss this account of a biblical story. $13.99. 329 pages.