Publishers Marketplace: J R Lankford

ISBN: 097186943X Pub Date: Oct 16, 2008

THE SECRET MADONNA

"THE SEQUEL WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR"

BELLAIRE, TX (October 16, 2008) --

The thriller, The Secret Madonna opens with a man found near death in Central Park. Days later, a renowned scientist announces to the world that he has produced a human clone, but claims the mother and baby died in childbirth.

A clone of whom? Jesus of Nazareth.

Impossible? The Secret Madonna answers this question in a way so surprising that it amounts to a
fresh interpretation of Biblical theology — a hopeful one, as well.

But this novel is no religious tract. The Secret Madonna's characters are too alive for that. Their fears, loves, betrayals, danger, and courage in the face of disaster, vibrate from the page.

J R Lankford's previous thriller, The Jesus Thief, came out in 2003 and earned a starred review from the venerable BOOKLIST, which called it, “great stuff.” Early reports are that the sequel may surpass it. The Jesus Thief was optioned by Hollywood, translated into five languages, nominated for two awards, and was studied in college classrooms for its ethics explorations and authentic depiction of an attempted human cloning from DNA in the Shroud of Turin.

“The science is compelling and precise." "A spell-binder," raved top scientists in the field, who hastened to emphasize that Lankford’s realistically-told story is fiction.

“This new book begged to be written," author J R Lankford says, "and not only because of the readers who emailed, asking for it. I had to explore what would happen to this child. Would he elude those who want to destroy him? Can he possibly be who his mother thinks he is? I had to imagine what would happen to her as well, a woman who believes herself the second Virgin Mary."

"At last! The sequel we've been waiting for," said one book club founder when she read The Secret Madonna’s opening chapters. "I was overjoyed when I found out that it was finally coming."

Now it's here.

When she’s not writing acclaimed novels, J R Lankford runs NovelPro, the advanced online workshop that she founded for novelists. “Some of our members have hit the bestseller lists and earned starred reviews of their own,” says Lankford. “Exchanging critiques with them always improves my work.”

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