"Christ the Lord: Road to Cana" derives its power from the passion its author brings to the writing and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of Jesus who tells the story.

In the New Testament, the miracle at the wedding at Cana (where Jesus turned water into wine) marked the beginning of his turbulent three-year ministry. In contrast, Rice’s beautifully observed novel presents the wedding miracle as the culmination of an intimate family saga of love, sorrow and misunderstanding.

The final chapters, which pick up the story with the New Testament’s accounts of Jesus’ baptism, temptation and early miracles, manage to be soulfully insightful even while faithfully tracking the Gospels. Rice undertakes a delicate balance: if it is possible to create a character that is simultaneously fully human and fully divine, as ancient Christian creeds assert, then Rice succeeds.

Powerbooks Specialty Store recommends this book for the Holy Week.