The Image That Broke

The Image That Broke is a bold, story-driven challenge to the idea that God must look like a man—and that women only reflect the divine through male authority. What this book is about. In a temple-ruled city where gods are unquestioningly male, a woman named Liora dares to say aloud what many women only whisper: both women and men bear the image of the divine directly, and any god who is "male as men are male" is only a man in the sky. Through councils, court intrigue, and public hearings, her dangerous theology collides with priestly power and a queen who has quietly begun to doubt the stories that keep her crowned yet derivative. Blending rich, ancient-near-eastern style worldbuilding with theological argument, The Image That Broke explores gender, power, disability, and worship—asking why female bodies, differently-abled bodies, and ordinary lives have been treated as spiritually "less." It's perfect for readers of theological fiction, feminist spirituality, and anyone wrestling with pronouns for God, patriarchy in faith traditions, or the possibility of a God "far larger than any image we were taught to stand beneath." About 85 pages approximately 22,000 words.