Witnesses by Valerie Volk

In each of the short stories in this collection, Volk takes the bones of a Biblical story (from both the Old and New Testament) and breathes life into it by retelling it from the perspective of a minor character or bystander. In so doing she explores the relationships and the emotions that must surely underlie the basic plotlines she selects, and in the process the people become inherently human. We can identify and relate to their predicaments in a way that may not have occurred during a simple reading from the Bible, where the moral lesson often seems to be the most important element. And so we can empathise with Noah’s daughter-in-law’s fear of water; the jealousy between two sisters married to the same man; the soldier commanded by his king to slay him; the father yearning for his prodigal son. They all make for interesting thought-provoking stories.

The stories can be read simply as a collection of intriguing human situations; but for the more dedicated reader of the Bible, there is also an end section with discussion starters, which relate back to the original scriptures, and provoke more thoughtful examination of the issues raised, and which often also provide a tie-in to modern dilemmas, about euthanasia and suicide, for example. Volk is clearly an accomplished scholar of Bible studies, and with her skills as a writer she provokes fresh examinations of the complexities of deceptively simple stories, familiar to many readers. And thus they gain a new life, and a new readership.

Themes: Short stories, Bible stories, Relationships, Moral dilemmas, Human weaknesses.

Helen Eddy