"This Crowded Night is a collection of 10 captivating short stories which seek to imagine the lives of the people in the periphery of the Gospel narratives. Written from the perspective of a female narrators, the stories are rich with historical and cultural details and carefully follow the often very brief Gospel accounts." —Ingrid Reichard, reviewing in Mennonite Brethren Herald

Summary: This Crowded Night brings the women of the New Testament Gospels to life, capturing the voices of mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives struggling to find their way—and perhaps their faith—in a society where women’s voices are too often pushed to the margins.

"I’m always looking for ways to read the scriptures—its narrratives and people—with clearer, wider eyes and ears. Elrena Evans book does this beautifully, bringing ancient but real people and events to vivid, enfleshed, believable life. Words are made flesh—and God comes near in these stories." —Leslie Leyland Fields, Author, The Spirit of Food; and MFA faculty, Seattle Pacific University

"In these short stories, Elrena Evans joins a long, Christian literary and theological tradition that extends back to the times of the medieval mystery plays and likely before that. To the Bible stories’ bare contours, she adds earthly atmosphere, creaturely flesh and very deep feeling. Her renderings of the familiar tales offer such startling insight and moving revelation that this work of devotion and imagination deserves to find a place beside the more conventional approaches to the Bible." —Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Author, Poetry in America

Market: These stories should appeal to anyone interested in entering afresh, through gripping narratives, New Testament times and the living meaning of Jesus Christ.

Shelving: Women in the Bible—Fiction; New Testament—Fiction; Historical fiction—Biblical.

The Author: Elrena Evans, Pennsylania, is co-editor of Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press 2008). Her writing also appears in numerous anthologies and journals.

Publisher: Cascadia Publishing House LLC
Imprint: DreamSeeker Books
Copublisher: None
Publication date: July 2011
Approximate Pages: 224
Tentative Format: 5.5 x 8.5" trade paper
Prices: $15.95 US/Can. ISBN 13: 978-1-931038-77-5; ISBN 10: 1-931038-77-5