The Bethany Tales

Four Intertwined Stories of Restoration and Hope

By: Bryan Canter

Narrated by: Melie Williams

Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

A young woman, cast out by her father and shunned by her family, wanders the streets of Jerusalem, selling her body to survive in a cutthroat city that has no mercy for the downtrodden. When one man promises her a different way of life, she overcomes her doubts and opens her heart to him.

A stranger named Jesus saves Mary from death, and she becomes a devoted follower. He helps her to break free from a life of prostitution, and they travel to her home village of Bethany to seek reconciliation with her family.

Her brother Lazarus gladly accepts her back, but her sister and uncle make it abundantly clear that she is not welcome there. In the face of her sister’s rejection and her uncle’s judgmental pride, Mary questions God’s forgiveness and struggles to forgive herself.

Yet, even as their lives interweave and collide, the very ones who are so quick to condemn her, wrestle with their own internal demons - inadequacy, self-righteousness, and the need to earn God’s favor. Will these attitudes tear their family apart forever, or can a carpenter from Nazareth open their unbelieving eyes and show them the wonder of true faith?

Canter tells the personal histories of these four New Testament characters in a uniquely memorable way. Fans of Francine Rivers, Brian Godawa, and Kenneth Winter will love this compelling tale. Find out why delighted readers say, “Bryan expertly intertwines each person’s individual story, including their past life and their new relationship with Jesus.” Don't wait to discover this compelling, fresh voice in the genre.

Click "buy now" to begin your own faith journey - one that will challenge you, inspire you, and leave you forever changed!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Telikos Publishing, LLC (P)2020 Telikos Publishing, LLC

The Bethany Tales

I highly recommend this. This story makes you think about how you react to the teachings of Jesus how you might feel about Mary Martha there brother and a leaper who was healed

Nice biblical fiction

This story about Mary Magdalene's, Lazarus, and Martha's perspective on Jesus was very inspiring and thought provoking.
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Beautiful Individual Perspective Given

This book gives four different perspectives of some of the last days Jesus spent before and around his crucifixion. Although, some liberties were taken the author fully discloses those and then gives you the passages he used to put the stories together. I don't feel that any of it was done in a way to be disrespectful or to change any of the doctrines taught in these stories. It was well written and I honestly loved listening to each story as it made me think about them in a different and very personal way. These are a lovely way to create introspection on personal scripture study and to devote more time and thought to Him on the Sabbath. The narrator did a fantastic job and was definitely a pleasure to listen to.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I am not a religious person but decided to get this book and listen to it anyways. I enjoyed most of the stories in this book because I took the stories as just some random characters and not as historical religious figures. The narrator did really well with the characters. I love that the author made his disclosure at the beginning of the book and let you know about the stories he chose, why and how they affected him. Overall, a great book with fantastic stories

Four Moving & Meaningful Tales! Great Listen🎧

I am a huge fan of historical fiction novels but it has been a while since I’ve listened to one, and this one sounded intriguing and it would be a nice change of pace for me. It is nicely written and presented in four intertwined stories from biblical times. Each story told by a different character in their POV and since the characters are all connected you get several versions of the same story. There are not many details of what occurred between these characters, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Simon, so the author told the story in how he thought their interactions occurred, what they went through and what they were thinking and he did a great job with each one. The story held my interest the entire time and the messages were meaningful and heartfelt. Bryan Canter, thank you for this wonderfully moving story.

🎧📚🎧 Melie Williams did a great job bringing these characters to life and story to life. She set the perfect tone for the story and captured all the character’s emotions and projected them into her performance. Ms. Williams is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for the great listen.

Very inspirational

This was a very well thought out book about the savior and the people who interacted with him and the story seems very possible

A New Look At Bible Stories

This was my first experience with Bryan Canter's work. It was interesting. This combination of four short stories were woven together, and they created a unique perspective on some biblical tales. I liked that the author took characters in the bible, appointed more humanistic traits to them which made them appear more realistic. I realize that he was basing his stories on the bible, but when he listed the lines of a song as the lines of one of the characters (using "I was there" instead of the actual song line which started "Were you there...") that some reference should have been made to the African-American spiritual from which the lines originated. It is possible that it was referenced in the written copy, but I heard nothing in the audiobook, not even in the appendix referencing the song. Melie Williams' narration was fine as her diction was clear and her voice was pleasant, but her performance lacked expressiveness considering the subject matter. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

A good Resurrection Sunday read

Caution, the author takes literary license in presenting some biblical facts and stats this in the beginning. Having said that, the story takes a look at certain events prior to Jesus' crucifixion and puts them into an understandable timeline. The stories illustrate redemption not only through the death, burial, and resurrection, but shows how an individual can learn to forgive others once they understand what is forgiven of them. I had the audio version of this book and found the narrator's reading stilted. I felt like I was listening to reading of a children's story.

Enjoyable Story

Bethany Tales is an interesting interpretation of stories in the Bible. Although it’s not strictly biblical, the author lets you know this before the story begins. I enjoyed how the author brought the characters alive and managed to make them feel like real people.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Biblical Story │ 4 POVs │ Slightly Repetitive

Believe it or not, this is the first biblical fiction novel I've read (not counting Redeeming Love). It was pleasant enough. My favorite thing about this book is the way it fleshed the characters out for modern audiences. Sometimes it can be difficult to picture biblical settings and easy to forget that the people of that time weren't as different from you and I as we might think. In The Bethany Tales, the characters struggle with sickness, death, faith, loss, responsibility, grief, guilt, past memories, and even personal image and judgmental neighbors. These are struggles that people still struggle with today, and this novel helps teach us that Jesus understands our struggles to the same degree He understood the struggles of people 2,000 years ago. I was a little disappointed that this book repeated the mostly same events four times over. To me, the perspectives weren't immersive enough to justify the four point of views (them being Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Simon), but, of course, that does make the page count longer. Much of what was shown directly through the latter perspectives (especially Simon's) could've already been guessed indirectly through the other points of view. Still, "seeing" Lazarus's death and restoration through his own eyes was something special. Another disappointment was that Jesus's death and resurrection felt underwhelming and anticlimactic and lacked the profoundness that one would expect from such an event. The characters also burst into tears a lot, which felt overly dramatic. Still, this was a quick read, and I don't want to critique it too much. I would say it's a good book for "beginners" in the genre of biblical fiction. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.