Saint Joanna - Joanna in Fiction

Joanna in Fiction

Joanna was a secondary character in Margaret George’s 2002 novel Mary, Called Magdalene. In the novel, Joanna, cast from Herod’s household by Chuza for being possessed, is healed by Jesus in Capernaum. She then joins the other disciples. She is the second woman, after Mary, and becomes her friend.

Joanna is the main character in Mary Rourke's 2006 novel Two Women of Galilee. In Rourke's telling, Joanna is the daughter of a family that had become Hellenized and ceased to practice Judaism as they obtained a privileged position in the court of Herod. Mary is Joanna's long-lost cousin from a branch of the family that was still observant. When they meet they become close friends. Joanna meets Jesus through her friendship with Mary and he heals her of tuberculosis. The story centers on the friendship of Joanna and Mary, retelling events from the Gospel from the women's point of view.