The Women at the Well

“In The Women at the Well, Bauer sings out ofsilent alternative stories of the Biblical women shefirst encountered as a schoolgirl listening to thenuns. Wry humor is only one element of Bauer’silluminating re-vision as she inhabits her womenin the longing, sassiness, rebellion, compassion,wavering, and triumph. She lets them like eachother—Rachel and Leah reconcile—and letsthem relish their bodies. Mary complains aboutnever `knowing pleasure.’ She creates The ProdigalDaughter who, like Woolf ’s Judith Shakespeare,experiences a vastly different fate from her malecounterpart’s. But unlike poor Judith, this daughtersurvives and bears her own girl child . . . I had myfavorites among Bauer’s women, and you will,too. Whoever they are, the Bible will never be thesame.”—Carole Simmons Oles