A review by slferg
The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels by Janet Martin Soskice

5.0

Agnes and Margaret Smith were twins born in Scotland in1843 to Presbyterian parents. Their mother died 2 weeks after they were born. Their father never remarried. He had unusual ideas on the rearing and education of girls for that time. Both Agnes and Margaret were highly educated and strictly reared in the church. They learned modern Greek along with other subjects reserved for boys. After the death of their father they moved to Cambridge because that was where the learning was for subjects they wished to know about. They were interested in the new discoveries of ancient Bible manuscripts. Margaret fell in love and married James Gibson, a respected scholar. He died after a few years and Agnes hated to leave her alone because her grief was so deep. At about this time, Agnes met Samuel Lewis, the Fellow of the Parker Collection at Corpus Christi College. They became embroiled in an argument about the correct pronunciation of ancient Greek. Samuel was delighted and he and Agnes married. Margaret lived with them. But Lewis died after a few years. A scholarly friend of the twins had discovered a manuscript at a monastery in the Sinai and said there were some others he would like to have seen, but didn't get a chance.