"Forty years after the event, few really know the full story of the struggle to ordain the first women priests.  Odell’s book is a gripping read and a telling account that celebrates the courage of all the principled 'rule-breakers' who helped to move the Episcopal Church beyond the plea to 'study and pray' some more before acting.  It was a bold and risky move, not unlike Jesus overturning the tables in the Temple, and the consequences were almost as dangerous.  Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this narrative, take heart –and give thanks."
—The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

"With the gifts of a scholar and novelist, Darlene O’Dell has told the story of the Philadelphia Eleven and the Washington Four who defied the Episcopal Church they cherished and shattered the barrier of male priesthood in 1974 and 1975. If this book is their story, it is also an account of a critical moment in our nation’s history when a group of courageous women challenged theological and cultural patriarchy in a way that may have enraged critics, but ultimately inspired a generation of American women."
—Dan Carter, Education Foundation University Professor Emeritus, University of South Carolina