Jerusalem is crowded with pilgrims when eleven-year-old Mara begins noticing something is wrong.
Her father, Cassius; a loyal Roman soldier; has been ordered to guard the tomb of an executed teacher everyone seems to be whispering about. Rumors spread through the streets. Crowds argue in marketplaces. Fear hangs heavier than the spring air.
But when the stone sealing the tomb moves without human hands, nothing in Mara's world makes sense anymore.
From secret midnight trials to the governor's judgment… from the darkened sky at Golgotha to locked doors opened by impossible hope… Mara watches history unfold through the eyes of a child caught between Rome's power and a story that refuses to stay buried.
As arrests begin and danger rises, father and daughter must decide what loyalty truly means; obedience to authority… or faith in what they have witnessed.
A powerful and moving historical novel for ages 9–12, The Soldier's Daughter brings the final days of Jesus and the beginning of the early church to life through courage, compassion, and the unforgettable eyes of a young witness.