<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><item href="/pre-go-live-resources/_migration/_dev-testing/2026-08-21/magazine/spring-2020/novel-look-first-century-world.html" dsn="news"><pubDate/><title>A Novel Look at the First-Century World</title><excerpt>Holly Beers had read thousands of novels, especially historical fiction, but she had never written one. Then an editor asked her to develop a book about a first-century woman for the series “A Week in the Life.” When the Westmont New Testament professor learned she could create the storyline and characters herself, she agreed. Her novel, “A Week in the Life of a Greco-Roman Woman” (InterVarsity Press, 2019), focuses on Anthia, a young fisherman’s wife expecting her second child who struggles to survive in Ephesus.</excerpt><author/><image>
            
            <img src="/_migrated-binaries/sites/default/files/styles/16_9_900w/public/CL18_0267_1.jpg" alt="Holly Beers Classroom"/>
        </image><caption/><description>1 Column Content Background Color White Ali...</description></item>