Back to Book Overview

no chapter name

Chapter 5223 wordsCompleted

Pilate’s Wife begins by describing her own hands—soft, pearly‑nailled, like shells from Galilee—and contrasts them with those of a woman she envies. She longs for Rome and a different life. When the Nazarene arrives in Jerusalem, she and her maid slip away from the crowd, disguise themselves, and push through the frenzied masses. She trips, grabs an ass’s bridle, and spots the Nazarene; his face is ugly yet his eyes are “eyes to die for.” That night she dreams of him: his brown hands touch her, nails pierce his palms, blood spreads, and she awakens sweaty, terrified and sexually aroused. She sends a warning note and quickly dresses. The next day she arrives to find the Nazarene crowned with thorns while the crowd shouts for Barabbas. Pontius Pilate looks away, then deliberately washes his perfumed, useless hands. The authorities seize the Nazarene, drag him up to the Place of Skulls, and the wife’s maid knows the rest. She concludes that the Nazarene is not God—“Of course not”—though Pilate believes he is.

Running Summary
Cumulative summary through the selected chapter (not the full-book final summary).
Through chapter 5

Little Red-Cap meets a poetic, wine‑drinking wolf at the edge of the woods, follows him into his lair, loses her shoes, kills him with an axe, fills his belly with stones, discovers her grandmother’s bones, and escapes the forest alone with flowers. Three enigmatic queens gather at the palace gates, prophesy a new star and command a scar‑marked chief of staff to launch a ruthless eastward raid against every mother’s son. Mrs Midas recounts a night of chaotic intimacy with a gold‑obsessed lover, their volatile interactions in a domestic setting, and her eventual decision to leave him behind. Mrs Tiresias recounts a surreal tale of a man who returns home transformed into a woman, describing the gender swap, a menstrual curse, and a glamorous encounter with a lover at a glittering ball. Pilate’s Wife recounts watching the Nazarene enter Jerusalem, dreaming of his crucifixion, sending a warning, and later seeing him crowned with thorns and taken to the Place of Skulls; she doubts his divinity while Pilate is depicted washing his hands and believing he is God.