On the Cross
Wilhelmine von Hillern set this romance in Oberammergau, the Bavarian village whose people stage their famous Passion Play once every ten years. The story follows the young woman chosen to play the Madonna and the woodcarver cast as Christ, whose devotion to the sacred role complicates the ordinary human feelings growing between them. Faith, sacrifice, and the pull of earthly love press against one another as the villagers prepare to reenact the suffering they hold most holy. Von Hillern writes with warm attention to peasant life and to the strange intensity that overtakes people asked to embody the divine. Translated from the German novel “Am Kreuz,” it remains a tender study of conviction and longing. This free PDF and EPUB edition brings the full novel to modern readers.
