Dr. Bethesda Vernon, a 30ish year old college professor has lived half a life since the death of Enoch, her Marine Corps husband, in an auto accident in the backcountry of Westchester, NY. His death had devastated Beth. They were married for only four years. After two years of unspeakable grief and mourning, Beth buried herself in teaching her Marriage and Family Relations courses at Queens College. When she had time she traveled to far away places and also mourned Enoch there. One summer day while in Bermuda enjoying the sun, Cedric Philippe simply walked into her life. Cedric was Ambassador of Sierra Leone, West Africa to the United Nations. He called her MyBeth' the moment they met--now she belonged to someone again--Beth called him, Phillip' . Their affair began despite her knowing he was married and that his wife and two teenage sons lived in London. She was becoming the other woman'--a bittersweet role. One ordinary day, Beth wakes herself up from her foolishness and decides "...it is over." Then enters Dr. Jesse Butler, who joins the Queens College Family Science Department. Jesse and Beth marry after a two year courtship. Later, he accepts ''the call' to preach. Without warning old secrets' creep back into their lives--even the secrets of Jesse''s daughter, Lilliclaire, and Sara, Jesse

"In this long-awaited follow-up to his 2003 book on Genesis, humanist scholar Leon Kass explores how Exodus raises and then answers the central political questions of what defines a nation and how a nation should govern itself. Considered by some the most important book in the Hebrew Bible, Exodus tells the story of the Jewish people from their enslavement in Egypt, through their liberation under Moses's leadership, to the covenantal founding at Sinai and the building of the Tabernacle. In Kass's analysis, these events began the slow process of learning how to stop thinking like slaves and become an independent people. The Israelites ultimately founded their nation on three elements: a shared narrative that instills empathy for the poor and the suffering, the uplifting rule of a moral law, and devotion to a higher common purpose. These elements, Kass argues, remain the essential principles for any freedom-loving nation today." --