Rosa Penaloza

Susanna of Bethsaida Rosa Penaloza

The novelette, "Susanna of Bethsaida" is a wondrous short novelette, now in English and Spanish, of a Saint, a woman contemporary with Mary from Magdala, both whom walked with Christ, being one of the several female companions to the apostles, whom both discovered their destiny. Drawing on the Gospels of the New Testament, sources from the Vatican library, and other resources, we see Jesus Christ and his entourage, as they follow Him heart, mind and soul, on his journey. In the form of a monologue, Susanna tells the reader her story, her awareness to Christianity's early years and its history changing events, surrounded by a pagan world and martyrs such as John the Baptist, as this new faith emerges. Susanna, seldom written about, and surely never in a novel or novelette, to my knowledge, here for the first time one may actually visualize the holy women that followed our Lord in the First Century A. D. For the most part, Susanna is the hidden jewel; brought out to sparkle with Mary called Magdalene, Salome, and Joanna. Dr. Siluk and his wife Rosa visited Israel in 2010 A. D., included many of the places-to include Caesarea-where Jesus Christ journeyed followed by his apostles and Susanna and the other holy women. By, Rosa Peñaloza