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As three women attend an awards ceremony in their honor, they relive their complicated personal and religious journeys. While listening to the speakers, each struggles with a difficult choice she must make by the end of the evening that will forever change her life.
Mona Sullivan seeks peace and certitude when she becomes a nun, but must adjust to tumultuous changes in her Church. As she becomes an activist public figure, she must decide whether to stay in the Church or leave to become an Episcopal priest. Sandra Miller embarks on a long and difficult journey to become a rabbi at a time when women weren’t accepted. Now she must choose between her childhood sweetheart and her successful career. Reverend Elizabeth Adams builds a Presbyterian congregation with her husband, but he leaves her for a younger woman. She discovers she’s a lesbian and faces a difficult choice between her same-sex relationship and her career. Set between 1940 and 1990, the story follows the civil rights struggles that revolutionized every major institution, including religion. Real events and figures lend Hear My Voice impressive authenticity and relevance, making it a must-read for people of all faiths. |
REVIEWS
Marcia Rudin, who is Jewish, has long been involved in the dialogue in this country between Christians and Jews, and her knowledge of the Catholic and Protestant communities as well as her own Jewish tradition is quite deep. “Hear My Voice” is a well-written, readable novel.
Set in the key period of the 20th century between 1940 and 1990, the book traces the lives of three women born during World War II and the Holocaust.
Their lives follow and reflect the dramatic changes in American Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism in that period, which includes the Second Vatican Council, the civil rights and peace movements, and the work of all three traditions to help Soviet Jewry find freedom in the United States and Israel.
The novel also narrates the efforts of women in all three traditions in that period to become more involved at all levels in their respective religious communities.
The three women are attending an award dinner to be honored for their accomplishments for their communities and society at large. Each reflects on her life and what brought her to being so honored. As they go to the dais to receive their awards, each makes a decision that will define the rest of her life.
One is a nun, and the story of her vocation and her time in the novitiate and the convent is quite accurate to the period. Her life active in trying to help people in need and dealing with civil rights, the peace movement and helping Soviet Jewry is filled with grace and courage. Gradually, with the perspective of Vatican II, she feels that she has a vocation to the priesthood.
The second main protagonist struggles to and succeeds in becoming one of the first women in Reform Judaism to become a rabbi, just as the third becomes one of the first female Presbyterian ministers.
All three, each in their own ways, break some of the glass ceilings in their respective traditions. In the process, their lives intertwine and they learn from and support each other on their parallel paths. It is the interwoven tapestry of their lives in their differing traditions that gives this novel such power and makes it a page turner.
Along the way readers will effortlessly learn the history of this historic period of ecumenical and interreligious breakthroughs in this country and the challenges that lie ahead in our own time.
Many real events and historical figures are included in the narrative. For Catholics, this book is a most helpful introduction to some of the central teachings of Vatican II.
Readers may not agree with all of the choices these remarkable women make in their lives, but they will begin to understand how Jews, Protestants and Catholics can dialogue with each other and learn to make our one world better not only for ourselves but for all humanity.
Set in the key period of the 20th century between 1940 and 1990, the book traces the lives of three women born during World War II and the Holocaust.
Their lives follow and reflect the dramatic changes in American Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism in that period, which includes the Second Vatican Council, the civil rights and peace movements, and the work of all three traditions to help Soviet Jewry find freedom in the United States and Israel.
The novel also narrates the efforts of women in all three traditions in that period to become more involved at all levels in their respective religious communities.
The three women are attending an award dinner to be honored for their accomplishments for their communities and society at large. Each reflects on her life and what brought her to being so honored. As they go to the dais to receive their awards, each makes a decision that will define the rest of her life.
One is a nun, and the story of her vocation and her time in the novitiate and the convent is quite accurate to the period. Her life active in trying to help people in need and dealing with civil rights, the peace movement and helping Soviet Jewry is filled with grace and courage. Gradually, with the perspective of Vatican II, she feels that she has a vocation to the priesthood.
The second main protagonist struggles to and succeeds in becoming one of the first women in Reform Judaism to become a rabbi, just as the third becomes one of the first female Presbyterian ministers.
All three, each in their own ways, break some of the glass ceilings in their respective traditions. In the process, their lives intertwine and they learn from and support each other on their parallel paths. It is the interwoven tapestry of their lives in their differing traditions that gives this novel such power and makes it a page turner.
Along the way readers will effortlessly learn the history of this historic period of ecumenical and interreligious breakthroughs in this country and the challenges that lie ahead in our own time.
Many real events and historical figures are included in the narrative. For Catholics, this book is a most helpful introduction to some of the central teachings of Vatican II.
Readers may not agree with all of the choices these remarkable women make in their lives, but they will begin to understand how Jews, Protestants and Catholics can dialogue with each other and learn to make our one world better not only for ourselves but for all humanity.
- Eugene Fisher, Catholic News Service
The amplification of women’s voices has become an idee fixe of modern social media. Rightfully so. If anything has become clear since the 2016 presidential election and the recent #metoo exposure of rampant sexual assault, it’s the necessity and relevance of feminism in our society.
But for today’s fourth-wave feminists, an awareness and appreciation of the great forward leaps made by the second-wave feminists of the 1960s is imperative to maintain historical perspective and inform future action. Marcia R. Rudin’s historical novel, Hear My Voice, does just that.
Rudin chronicles the lives of three women who followed the call to religious service: Mona Sullivan, a nun; Elizabeth Adams a Presbyterian pastor; and Sandra Miller, a rabbi.
Mona’s traditional Catholic family finds her decision righteous and supports her; in contrast, Liz and Sandy face familial and systemic obstacles in their path to ordination. Although Liz’s husband Tom Hagerman, also a Presbyterian pastor, supports her education and vocation, he maintains the status quo in their joint appointment to a Reno parish by keeping her engaged in more “feminine” aspects of the church, such as leading youth programs and Sunday school.
But for today’s fourth-wave feminists, an awareness and appreciation of the great forward leaps made by the second-wave feminists of the 1960s is imperative to maintain historical perspective and inform future action. Marcia R. Rudin’s historical novel, Hear My Voice, does just that.
Rudin chronicles the lives of three women who followed the call to religious service: Mona Sullivan, a nun; Elizabeth Adams a Presbyterian pastor; and Sandra Miller, a rabbi.
Mona’s traditional Catholic family finds her decision righteous and supports her; in contrast, Liz and Sandy face familial and systemic obstacles in their path to ordination. Although Liz’s husband Tom Hagerman, also a Presbyterian pastor, supports her education and vocation, he maintains the status quo in their joint appointment to a Reno parish by keeping her engaged in more “feminine” aspects of the church, such as leading youth programs and Sunday school.
"The Hagermans were deluged with dinner invitations from their new congregants. Everyone was eager to meet the new pastor and his wife. “New pastor and other new pastor,” Liz said to Tom. “Don’t they get that?” …They divided up their responsibilities. Liz would run the Sunday School and Wednesday night adult bible study group…the exploratory committee looking into establishing a pre-school and work with the lay chairs of the book review and adult education committees.…Tom would do most of the personal counseling, hospital and home visits to the ill, and conduct the worship services, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals." |
Sandy’s father, her rabbi, and her high school sweetheart all are disdainful of her rabbinical aspirations, each for a different reason: her father can’t understand her religious leanings, her rabbi can’t envision a woman on the bimah, and her boyfriend isn’t Jewish and doesn’t understand her devotion.
"Sandy wrote to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and told them she wanted to apply to rabbinical school. By this time Sandy had told her parents of her wild dream. Helen [Sandy’s mother] was surprisingly supportive, but warned her she’d probably not be able to follow her unusual career choice. Leon Miller was appalled, or at least pretended to be. “You do know religion is all hogwash,” he reminded his daughter. “Rabbis don’t have mysterious magical powers. This ordination stuff is all nonsense. Laying on of hands. In the twentieth century. It’s all magic. There are other ways you can transmit our Jewish culture, if that’s what you want.” |
That these women pursue their career choice despite opposition from such close quarters is a radical act. Though fictional characters, their stories closely align with their real-life contemporaries, including Sister Ann Gillen and Rabbi Sally Priesand, who appear as beacons of inspiration in the book.
In pursuing their social justice callings, the three women cross paths in the Soviet Jewry struggle. It’s interesting that Rudin seizes on this issue, only touching on the racially driven civil rights issues of the 1960s and 70s. Indeed, Hear My Voice is notably non-intersectional, as its only characters of color are Sandy’s live-in nannies. While one character discovers in adulthood that she’s a lesbian, her identity is overshadowed by her desire to keep her position, and she ends the first loving relationship she’s ever known. As a fourth-wave feminist, I found some of Rudin’s choices somewhat unsatisfying, but they make sense for the period covered in the book: the late 1980s and early 1990s. The novel’s dialogue is at times stilted, yet I found the stories of these women who struggled for self-actualization against religious, inherited, and secular patriarchal attitudes compelling.
Though women today still suffer from workplace discrimination, normalized harassment, and wage inequality, the women who paved the way for our increased mobility and entry into every imaginable career path deserve to have their stories revisited.
In pursuing their social justice callings, the three women cross paths in the Soviet Jewry struggle. It’s interesting that Rudin seizes on this issue, only touching on the racially driven civil rights issues of the 1960s and 70s. Indeed, Hear My Voice is notably non-intersectional, as its only characters of color are Sandy’s live-in nannies. While one character discovers in adulthood that she’s a lesbian, her identity is overshadowed by her desire to keep her position, and she ends the first loving relationship she’s ever known. As a fourth-wave feminist, I found some of Rudin’s choices somewhat unsatisfying, but they make sense for the period covered in the book: the late 1980s and early 1990s. The novel’s dialogue is at times stilted, yet I found the stories of these women who struggled for self-actualization against religious, inherited, and secular patriarchal attitudes compelling.
Though women today still suffer from workplace discrimination, normalized harassment, and wage inequality, the women who paved the way for our increased mobility and entry into every imaginable career path deserve to have their stories revisited.
- Courtney Naliboff, ReformJudaism.org
Local author Marcia Rudin has written an historical novel that follows 50 years in the lives of three protagonists. Sister Mona Sullivan wants to become a Catholic priest. If she chooses this path, she must renounce her vows as a nun and leave the Church. Sandra Miller, one of the first women rabbis, and Elizabeth Adams, one of the first women Presbyterian pastors, must choose between their lovers and their careers.
Hear My Voice talks about three fictional women, but the public figures mentioned in the book are real. Marcia explains in her Foreword what is fact and what is fiction.
The book begins with brief explanations of each of the three women during an earlier time and then moves on to 1990 when all three are attending a gala dinner to receive an award for their professional accomplishments. They are each recipients of The WomanSpeak Let My Voice Be Heard Award. When the evening draws to a close, each will make a decision that will forever change their lives.
The story is set between 1940 and 1990. Rudin has done remarkable research about events that impacted her characters to make it as historically accurate as possible. This includes changes in both religious and general feminism, especially the changes in the role of women as ordained Jewish and Protestant clergy. I was amazed at the number of major issues in world and religious news that were included in this novel. She told me, “I spent over 10 years writing the novel. Thank God for the Internet. I had to research events and their dates in the world as well as events in the religion world. I especially deeply researched Vatican Council II changes.”
Marcia, who majored in religion during college and also taught history of religion at both the high school and college level, told me, “I have always been intellectually interested in religion and have always been fascinated by nuns. My husband, Rabbi James Rudin, when he was director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, worked with very radical nuns wrestling with their role as women in the church and their changing identities because of Vatican II. This includes the two radical nuns in the novel.
Marcia writes in such a manner that we clearly understand the three main characters and what they went through to achieve legitimacy and recognition as female clergy. I learned a great deal about world-wide religious issues that occurred during this 50-year period. The women may be fictional but you will find them all too real in the book and will no doubt find something in each one that you can either relate to or admire for their determination as they struggle to find their own voice. I asked which woman was the most difficult to write about and she said, “Mona, because her life is the most different from my own and because of the research I had to conduct. I read many first hand accounts by nuns regarding their early convent experiences and later transitions. However, she is my favorite character.” Hear My Voice is available online and at her website www.marciarudin.com.
Hear My Voice talks about three fictional women, but the public figures mentioned in the book are real. Marcia explains in her Foreword what is fact and what is fiction.
The book begins with brief explanations of each of the three women during an earlier time and then moves on to 1990 when all three are attending a gala dinner to receive an award for their professional accomplishments. They are each recipients of The WomanSpeak Let My Voice Be Heard Award. When the evening draws to a close, each will make a decision that will forever change their lives.
The story is set between 1940 and 1990. Rudin has done remarkable research about events that impacted her characters to make it as historically accurate as possible. This includes changes in both religious and general feminism, especially the changes in the role of women as ordained Jewish and Protestant clergy. I was amazed at the number of major issues in world and religious news that were included in this novel. She told me, “I spent over 10 years writing the novel. Thank God for the Internet. I had to research events and their dates in the world as well as events in the religion world. I especially deeply researched Vatican Council II changes.”
Marcia, who majored in religion during college and also taught history of religion at both the high school and college level, told me, “I have always been intellectually interested in religion and have always been fascinated by nuns. My husband, Rabbi James Rudin, when he was director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, worked with very radical nuns wrestling with their role as women in the church and their changing identities because of Vatican II. This includes the two radical nuns in the novel.
Marcia writes in such a manner that we clearly understand the three main characters and what they went through to achieve legitimacy and recognition as female clergy. I learned a great deal about world-wide religious issues that occurred during this 50-year period. The women may be fictional but you will find them all too real in the book and will no doubt find something in each one that you can either relate to or admire for their determination as they struggle to find their own voice. I asked which woman was the most difficult to write about and she said, “Mona, because her life is the most different from my own and because of the research I had to conduct. I read many first hand accounts by nuns regarding their early convent experiences and later transitions. However, she is my favorite character.” Hear My Voice is available online and at her website www.marciarudin.com.
- Di Saggau, Sanibel Island Sun, River Weekly News
Historical fiction is difficult to write. It is especially difficult when you have fictional characters interacting with real people. In "Hear My Voice," Marcia Rudin traverses these hurdles effortlessly. She gives us a novel of epic proportions that tells of three strong women, a nun, a rabbi and a minister as they face the struggle for legitimacy and recognition as female clergy. The novel covers a fifty year period from 1940 to 1990 and analytically describes many of the major issues in world and religious news of that period.
As the wife of a rabbi at the forefront of inter-religious dialogue and understanding and as the mother of a rabbi who is a woman, Ms. Rudin is amply qualified to articulate the challenges Mona, Sandra and Elizabeth confront. Although it is a 300-page book, the ending comes too quickly because of Ms. Rudin's narrative skills. In fact since the book ends in 1990, this reader would be first in line to buy a sequel that takes the story of the three protagonists to the present day!
As the wife of a rabbi at the forefront of inter-religious dialogue and understanding and as the mother of a rabbi who is a woman, Ms. Rudin is amply qualified to articulate the challenges Mona, Sandra and Elizabeth confront. Although it is a 300-page book, the ending comes too quickly because of Ms. Rudin's narrative skills. In fact since the book ends in 1990, this reader would be first in line to buy a sequel that takes the story of the three protagonists to the present day!
- Rabbi Stephen Fuchs
This book is a great read…the story and writing are captivating. And Rudin taught me a tremendous amount more about a time and topic that I lived through and thought I knew because Sandra Miller, one of the three fictional women in the novel, and I were ordained as rabbis at nearly the same time. I was, of course, intimately (and too often, painfully) aware of the struggle for ordaining women rabbis. I was much less familiar with the similar struggles of Catholic and Protestant women. Kudos to Rudin for the research that informs the historical aspects of this novel. And thanks, additionally, for so absorbingly illuminating the struggle of Soviet Jewry.
I am grateful to Rudin for the manner in which she ended these three women’s life sagas. I am prone toward the “happily ever after” ending. Thankfully, the reader was not allowed such simple-mindedness. Each woman’s journey ends with the appropriate challenges and complexities, as it should. We are hopeful, but realistically so, for their futures.
I am grateful to Rudin for the manner in which she ended these three women’s life sagas. I am prone toward the “happily ever after” ending. Thankfully, the reader was not allowed such simple-mindedness. Each woman’s journey ends with the appropriate challenges and complexities, as it should. We are hopeful, but realistically so, for their futures.
Rabbi Myra Soifer
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Cincinnati, 1978
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Cincinnati, 1978
What a marvelous book. This bold novel tells the stories of three very strong and courageous women. The young Catholic woman wants to become a nun, and, after experiencing a life-changing event, the Protestant woman is determined to serve God as a Presbyterian Minister. The Jewish woman yearns to remain dedicated to her religion by becoming a Rabbi. We follow Mona, Liz and Sandy from 1940-1990 as they vigorously work to achieve their personal goals.
The research that Ms. Rudin undertook was staggering and historically significant. I had mentally put-aside the turbulent years of the 1960's and it was fascinating to read a recap of those tumultuous times. It was helpful for me to recall the history of the civil rights era and to remember the struggles that women experienced. As women, we continue to fight for our rights in society and these three very strong characters give credence to why the women's movement must continue.
Learning about other religions and discovering the similarities struck all of the right chords with me. Hear My Voice lends itself to having exceptionally interesting book club discussions. A true gem of a book, bravo Ms. Rudin!
The research that Ms. Rudin undertook was staggering and historically significant. I had mentally put-aside the turbulent years of the 1960's and it was fascinating to read a recap of those tumultuous times. It was helpful for me to recall the history of the civil rights era and to remember the struggles that women experienced. As women, we continue to fight for our rights in society and these three very strong characters give credence to why the women's movement must continue.
Learning about other religions and discovering the similarities struck all of the right chords with me. Hear My Voice lends itself to having exceptionally interesting book club discussions. A true gem of a book, bravo Ms. Rudin!
- Barb K.
I've just finished Marcia's amazing, brilliant, provocative book. Her research, knowledge, insight, and writing ability are so very evident in this remarkable achievement. Women aren't "there" yet, in any profession but are getting closer thanks to the Monas, Lizes, and Sandys who have been forging through barriers...and to books like Marcia Rudin's.
- Martha Stringer
I enjoyed this book on many levels. There was a lot of interesting information about the three religions of the protagonists and the history of the times. The women were very well written and captivating. Their stories kept me turning the pages, anxious to find out what happened next. I loved reading a book with not only a good story but also cultural history.
- Shirley Frank
I was captivated by the lives of the protagonists of Rudin's book as she portrayed the choices, challenges, and conflicts faced by three strong women in this well-crafted text. Their religious passion was intertwined with their personal stories over the course of several decades, keeping the reader engrossed in the ultimate outcome of paths chosen and decisions made. What was particularly intriguing was the way that their roles as women were intertwined with social and historical events over those decades, bringing to light the hard choices faced by women throughout time. It is a theme that is particularly important in today's world as we confront the path that women have taken to maintain their integrity, strength, and fulfillment. Kudos to Rudin for bringing these issues so brilliantly to the forefront in the compelling voices of Mona, Sandra, and Elizabeth's as their stories unfold
- S.G. Baker
This book is full of great historical information about the evolution of women's rising status in the religious world. The author has done a prodigious amount of research, weaving it into a narrative about three women who have dedicated their lives to their religions. It follows their personal and spiritual development across the decades and how their paths cross in service of feminist progress. It is a good read, especially for women who have an interest in religion
- Tampa Girl
Hear My Voice is the story of three women who feel they have been called to the religious life as a nun, a minister, and a rabbi. Ms. Rudin has obviously done a lot of research to make these women's stories totally believable. Beginning in the 1960s, for the nun who thinks she has found security and the women who have to battle with both overt and subtle sexism, challenges abound. Ms. Rudin is especially acute in the depiction of romantic relationships which start out well and then go downhill. After 40 years, they each have to make major decisions affecting their personal and professional futures, and these decisions are, again, believable, based on each woman's life experience. A very good read!
- Samuel G. Abrams
Well-researched book that integrates in excellent detail the historical background with the lives of the primary characters over an extended time span. The reader is given access into the deepest thoughts and struggles of three women who have chosen careers in religious leadership, one a Catholic, one a Protestant and one, a Jew at a time when women were given little opportunity to lead. These serious issues are cleverly interwoven without being preachy into an intriguing plot that keeps the reader turning pages until the end
- Bernette Jaffe
Very enlightening read about female clergy from 1940-1990. This book was a page-turner for me. I was aware of what was going on for female clergy but did not have the depth and breath that this book offers. I will recommend this book to my friends and family
- Elaine Rudin
This story of three clergywomen of different faiths tells how they each came to choose their path. Mona was the most developed character as the Catholic nun who desires to be a priest. This was an enjoyable read that provided me with information about religions other than mine.
- Nan Rubin
The subject was unique, obviously requiring much research. I found the book very informative and insightful. Could not put it down as it is written beautifully and moves rapidly and interestingly through the lives of the three main characters. The author shows a great understanding of human nature. I would highly recommend this book.
- S.K. Boscov
I just finished Marcia R. Rudin's ambitious book! This is a great read for anyone interested in the inner lives of clergy women. We are treated to the stories of a nun, a Reverend, and a Rabbi and this page-turner take us through fifty years of their lives and development and the struggles women have faced as they broke the glass ceiling and pushed to become Rabbis, Reverends, and nuns. The personal lives of Mona, Liz, and Sandy parallel the real-life historical events that shaped the journey for women clergy.
I was rooting for all three women as they were challenged in the workplace and their personal lives. As the daughter of a Rabbi… my sister and I were taught to pursue our dreams, that women can excel in any career. Hear My Voice reminds us how lucky my generation is to have been born in the 1970s. The three women in Hear My Voice fought obstacles to pursue their dreams. The book was a page- turner and also a fun summer read! And now more than ever, we need to continue to fight for women's rights. The book is a timely arrival in the current political climate
I was rooting for all three women as they were challenged in the workplace and their personal lives. As the daughter of a Rabbi… my sister and I were taught to pursue our dreams, that women can excel in any career. Hear My Voice reminds us how lucky my generation is to have been born in the 1970s. The three women in Hear My Voice fought obstacles to pursue their dreams. The book was a page- turner and also a fun summer read! And now more than ever, we need to continue to fight for women's rights. The book is a timely arrival in the current political climate
- Jennifer A. Rudin
Thoroughly enjoyable! The book provides interesting facts about the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths provided by the stories of these religious women
- Phil