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