Ordinary Women of the Bible (Carole Towriss) Books in Order

Ordinary Women of the Bible is a biblical-fiction series that gives fuller stories to women whose lives are briefly described, or only partly seen, in Scripture. Carole Towriss's entries focus on women facing danger, family pressure, and choices that call for courage when there is no easy answer.

The books are written as self-contained stories, so a reader can begin with either of Towriss's novels. What connects them is the interest in looking beyond the best-known biblical figures and asking what everyday life, fear, love, and faith might have looked like for the women around them.

Small moments can carry enormous weight.

In A Mother's Sacrifice: Jochebed's Story, Towriss turns to Moses's mother. Jochebed gives birth just as Pharaoh's order against newborn Hebrew boys puts her family in terrible danger. The novel follows her effort to protect her child and imagines the emotional cost of entrusting him to Pharaoh's daughter, while trying to keep faith and family together in an Egyptian world built on power.

The story does not treat Jochebed as only the woman who placed a baby in a basket. She is a mother, wife, and enslaved Hebrew woman making decisions with consequences for Miriam, Aaron, Moses, and the people around her. The tension grows from the limits of what she can control, and from the courage required to act anyway.

No Stone Cast: Eliyanah's Story moves to Bethany and Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. Eliyanah begins with hopes of marrying the man she loves, but her stepfather gives her in marriage to an older, wealthy merchant. Lonely, mistreated, and desperate for comfort, she makes choices that leave her exposed to public shame and severe danger.

Her story leads toward the Gospel account of the woman brought before Jesus by the Pharisees. Towriss uses that moment as the heart of a larger story about isolation, guilt, mercy, and the possibility of beginning again. The book is emotionally heavier than a simple retelling, but it keeps its focus on Eliyanah's humanity rather than reducing her to one mistake.

Readers can expect intimate historical settings, close attention to family life and social customs, and a compassionate approach to women living with limited power. These novels build from Scripture but use fiction to explore the private struggles behind the biblical record, always keeping faith, grace, and hard-won hope in view.