"We are the cats of Rekem, descended from the sacred cats of the Egyptian temple of Bast. We bear the Mother's gift of language, passed down since the days before time began, so that we might speak our wisdom into the minds of the troubled human race. We gather here to honor Yeshua ben Yosef, friend of cats-He Who Brings Life to the Earth-whose light shines upon all flesh, animal and human alike."

The Cats of Rekem opens in the fabled city of Rekem (Petra, Jordan), capital of ancient Nabataea, destroyed by earthquake and swallowed up by desert sands long ago. Francisco brings Rekem to swirling, glittering life, in a kaleidoscopic pageant of exotic characters from a lost culture that reached its peak during the days of Jesus of Nazareth. On the fringes of Rekem's urban clamor, cats quietly sun themselves, eavesdropping and speaking their thoughts into human minds as the need arises.

25 years have passed in Rekem since the child Yeshua's rescue (in A Cat Out of Egypt) by Zaidan, a powerful caravan master, and Tikos, an Egyptian priestess fleeing Egypt with a pregnant temple cat from Bubastis. Tikos and Zaidan have married. The Egyptian cats have interbred with wild cats from the hills, and their descendants settled throughout the city with their chosen humans.

In an age of relentless empire building, the independent Nabataeans stubbornly hold to their own traditions, defying the advancing Roman Empire and Israel's grasping Herod Antipas. Yet Rekem is increasingly caught up in the tide of strange new religions sweeping through the Roman world. Zaidan, Tikos, and their family worship Yeshua's One God and cherish ties with the risen Yeshua, but the dark mysteries of Isis seduce their daughter Hinat into the goddess' temple. When Tikos steps in to protect Hinat, King Aretas is enraged by her insult to the gods who stand behind his throne. All of Zaidan's clan lie beneath the threat of his simmering wrath.

Into this turmoil stumbles a bemused young Apostle Paul, smuggled out of Damascus by Zaidan's sons, Yeshua's cat Mari, and Mary Magdalene. Still reeling from his vision on the Damascus road, Paul is painfully confused about what his new life might be. His arrival in Rekem attracts the palace's attention, loosing a flood of scandal and violence that endangers everyone around him . . . as well as threatening his own future before it can even begin.
About the Author: C. L. Francisco has always chosen fiction for her downtime reading: "Fiction sneaks up on me, gets under my guard, and touches my heart in a way that non-fiction can't," she says. "It opens up new possibilities and sets me dreaming. For me, life-changing books have always been fiction. That's probably why I chose to write a book like Yeshua's Cat." A retired college professor, Francisco found her faith again several years ago after a time of radical doubt. Her conservative Christian upbringing, undergraduate study at Mount Holyoke College, year's stay at L'Abri, early career years in art therapy, and PhD in world religions had all contributed to her questions. But as a woman whose life had always been grounded in faith, she struggled to find her way again. Oddly enough, the voice of non-human nature spoke more clearly than any other-except for C. S. Lewis' fiction, which she never abandoned. The whispers were faint at first, and often resulted in dead ends, but when they finally spoke clear, she found herself in the presence of the Christ who lives beyond all walls. The Gospel According to Yeshua's Cat had its roots in Francisco's desire to offer fellow strugglers a fresh perspective on Jesus of Nazareth. The book's feline narrator speaks with the wise voice of a young cat whose death after a devastating wildfire provided Francisco with the impetus to begin the book. A Cat Out of Egypt emerged from readers' eagerness for Francisco to write another book in the same series after The Gospel According to Yeshua's Cat-something she had never planned to do. But once the idea took hold, A Cat Out of Egypt came to life almost as if it had been waiting fully formed just below the surface of her thoughts. A stand-alone prequel to Yeshua's Cat, A Cat Out of Egypt introduces Francisco's original feline character's many-times great-grandmother Miw, beloved of the child Yeshua. The Cats of Rekem (November, 2015) will be the third volume in the series. Several characters from the two earlier books-human and feline-appear in a richly layered story culminating in the early ministry of Paul the apostle. Join Tracking Yeshua's Cats, C. L. Francisco's bi-monthly newsletter, and get behind-the-scenes previews of all her upcoming books! Sign up at clfrancisco.com/contact.